The Seventh Year
by Just Call Me Mrs Lupin
Summary: James and Lily are entering their final year at Hogwarts, will James finally be able to convince Lily that he is the right guy for her? Follow these two through their seventh year- their friends, the pranks, and just maybe their path to true love. JP/LE
1. Chapter 1

Lily Evans awoke to the sound of pecking on her window

DISCLAMER: I am not J.K. Rowling. If I was do you honestly think that I would be posting this on a web site for people to read for free? And if I was there is no way that Sirius and Remus would really be dead.

A/N: Ok, so this is my first ever fanfiction to have been put up here. This is kind of an experiment to see how people will react and if I should actually continue. So REVIEW please, and be honest…I promise I can take the evil mean reviews and they would be helpful! So…read on I guess!

**LPOV**

Lily Evans awoke to the sound of pecking on her window. Sighing, she rolled out of bed and trudged over to open it. As soon as the window swung free from its hatch a small barn owl flew in to her room, swooping around the perimeter of it once before dropping a small parcel at the feet of the red headed girl, finally perching on the desk in the corner of the blue room with its foot extended. A small leather pouch hung from the birds extended limb and Lily placed two Knuts inside of it. With one final hoot the owl swooped from the room and quickly disappeared in to the rising sun.

Lily bent down and picked up the parcel from the ground and plopped back down on her white bed spread, sitting with her legs crossed. She gasped as the picture covering most of the front page came in to view. The green sparkling skull with a snake protruding from its mouth glittered at her from the pages of the Daily Profit; the head line above it read **"TOP MINISTRY AUROR AND WIFE KILLED LAST NIGHT"**. But what shocked her most were the names of the two people killed: Harold and Jane Potter.

She only knew one person with that surname, but what were the chances? There was no way that the two stories could be related. James Potter was popular, smart, and, in the eyes of most girls at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry her self not included, immensely handsome. There was no way that something like this could happen to him, even if he was a prat. But Lily's thoughts were quickly changed as she skimmed the article, "Harold, Harry to his close friends, and Jane left behind a son when they exited this world. James Potter will be entering his seventh and final year at Hogwarts, but this time he will have to do so with out his parents being there to see him off, or welcome him home. Both Harold and Jane will be missed greatly by all those who knew them."

Stifling a gasp at this new information, Lily quickly put down the newspaper. She had had enough with depressing news for the day. Although she loathed James Potter more than any other boy she had every laid eyes on, with the exception of Vernon, her sisters walrus shaped boyfriend, she would never have wished for something like this to have happened to him. For the first time since knowing him Lily Evans actually felt bad for obnoxious Potter.

* * *

**JPOV**

James sat upon his dark red quilt that covered his bed, not moving, eyes focused on nothing, trying not to feel anything. Around him sat his three best friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew and right below them on the first level of the Potter House were hundreds of people chatting quietly, whispering about the two people who had just passed.

James moved his head ever so slightly to gaze out of his window. Although the dark mark had long since faded from above his home, he could swear that the ground surrounding the house still sparkled from the reflection, and the ominous green glow still encased the house. He could imagine the sounds that would have been coming from this very house just days before hand. The screams of terror and pain, the shouts of spells and curses, the laughter of the death eaters as they tortured their victims and finally the scream of those two words that had ended both of his parents lives with in seconds: "AVADA KEDAVRA".

Sirius and Remus eyed James warily. He had had the same empty look on his face from the moment that they had entered his room to escape all of the condolences, all of the sympatric pats on the back and hugs. Both boys knew that it was bad for James to keep his emotions hidden inside him, but both also knew that he would talk when he was ready, for now he just needed to know that they were there for him. So they sat, quietly by his side until the time came where he needed to break down.

"It was my fault" James mumbled. At these simple words, the other three boy's heads shot up to look at him. "It was all my fault" He repeated, this time a little more loudly.

"James, no. You are not going to do this. You were not even there, how in the world could this possibly be your fault?" Remus questioned.

"I…I should have been there. I could have helped; I could have fought with them, by their sides. But instead I was out playing around on a stupid broom stick. They were dying here and I was out there," he gestured in the general direction of the field that was hidden in the trees behind his house "playing a game. I didn't even notice."

"No James. Your father was one of the best, if not the best, Auror there has ever been. And your Mum was just as amazing, a brilliantly skilled witch. If those two could not hold off the Death Eaters, no offence man, but I don't think having you there would have been much of a help." Sirius stated all the while still starring at James's face, gauging what his reaction.

"You don't know that! I could have helped; I could have….called for help. Done something, I know I could have."

"James" Peter started "they would have killed you too."

"WELL MAYBE THEY SHOULD HAVE!" James exploded, "That would have been better, I am not doing ANYTHING to help the world, by my parents - they were. They fought for what was right. They SHOULD have lived. They are more needed here then I am, I should be the one dead."

The other three boys starred at him for a few seconds before Remus finally had anything to say in response.

"James that is why they were killed. They were fighting for what was right, for what they believed in. And they died fighting for it. But most of all, in their minds I am sure; they died knowing that you would be safe. They died knowing that their son, the most precious thing to them in the world, would still be living. And James I think that made them proud. You will go on to do great things in the world. We all will, we are all going to help stop this war. And you can fight too, fight for your parents, so that they will not have died in vain."

"And don't you EVER blame your self James Potter" Sirius said sternly "You are not they reason they are dead. Voldemort is. The Death Eaters are. Not you."

James gazed at his friends though tear filled eyes.

"I just miss them so much" as he spoke these words the tears that he had been with holding for the past few days spilled out. He broke down a sobbed right there in front of his very best mates. His three friends sat with him, comforted him and talked with him for the rest of the night until all four fell asleep, exhausted from the day, in piled heaps on the floor.

A/N: There it is…the first chapter! Don't forget REVIEW!! Tell me if I should actually continue and any ideas are welcome! Thanks JCMML


	2. Letters from Hogwarts

The next morning James and the rest of the marauders attended the funeral

DISCLAMER: sigh Unfortunately I do not own Harry Potter or any of the character mentioned in the books.

A/N: Ok so I know these things are annoying but I just wanted to thank all that have reviewed: Pouncing Padfoot 146, loverofbooks20, and Just Call Me Mrs Cullen. THANKS!! Oh and this story's title is subject to change. Any ideas? Because I don't like the current one. Oh and I promise this story isn't all going to be sad with people dying…it's just the beginning…don't worry things will start looking up soon!! hint hint

**JPOV**

The next morning James and the rest of the marauders attended the funeral. A great number attended showing just how much Harold and Jane touch all those people around them.

Afterward James and Sirius returned to the Potter House while Peter and Remus headed to their own homes. James's parents had left everything to him, excluding a rather significant amount of money that was left to Sirius, who they had considered as a second son. Although the Potter House was officially his now, James couldn't help but want to leave it, it felt to empty with out his parents there.

**(A few weeks later) **

On August 20th, while James and Sirius were stuffing their faces with pancakes that Yorry, the Potter house elf, had made for them, an owl flew through the open widow and dropped two letters on the table in front of them before swooping away.

"Excellent" Sirius said "Hogwarts letters are here. Finally…we are going to go home!"

James agreed. Although this house was where he grew up, it no longer felt like home, he too wanted to return to Hogwarts.

They both tore in to their letters and let their eyes scan the usual list of books and instructions to be on the Hogwarts express by 11 on September 1st. James was about to put the letter and envelope down when he realized that there was still something left that he had not seen. Carefully he pulled the second, smaller envelope out and upon opening it, nearly dropped it on to the table.

"Um, mate?" questioned Sirius "what is that?"

"I-I…I made Head Boy Sirius. Dumbledore has gone nutters. Me? Me Head Boy?"

Sirius just stared at the badge that James had just pulled out of the envelope. Then he broke out laughing.

"HAHAHA!! That's brilliant James. Really, how did ya manage to get it to look so realistic? I mean, really…I looks like the actual thing."

"Sirius, it's not a joke. Look" And with that James handed the letter to Sirius.

As his eyes looked over the letter they grew wider and wider.

"Oh Merlin, it's true. What in the world was Dumbledore thinking? Well…congrats mate!" Sirius thumped James on the back grinning widely. "And Prongs, guess who will probably be Head Girl. Lily! Maybe she will finally be able to see that you are not such a huge git. Only a small one!"

James couldn't help but grin at that one. "Yeah, maybe."

"Master James, Master Sirius, Yorry has brought you some more tea! Oh Masters have you received your Hogwarts letters? Let Yorry see, Yorry can go get your supplies for you." Yorry's large brown eyes landed on the badge still held in James's hands "What is that Master James. Oh Oh my, has Master James gotten Head Boy? OH!! Oh Master and Mistress Potter would be so please! Oh Master James!!"

Yorry then flung her self at James in a hug.

"Thanks Yorry!" James said hugging her back "But we will get out own supplies, thanks. Actually I think we should go tomorrow. That alright with you Padfoot?"

Sirius nodded, "Yeah, I'll go tell Moony and Wormtail, we can meet them there"

"Oh master James, Yorry shall make you a cake, yes she shall! Oh oh good job Master James." Yorry exited the room still muttering things under her breath about how big the cake should be and what flavor. James watched her go with a grin on his face, although he would never be able to fill the void that his parents had left when they died, he was actually becoming happy once more.

**LPOV**

Lily was sitting at her desk finishing up her summer Transfiguration essay when she heard a screech come from the kitchen.

"GET THAT BLOODY THING OUT OF HERE!! GET IT OUT!!"

Lily quickly jumped up and ran down the stairs and in to the kitchen only to see Petunia running around the room in a panic while a small white owl hooted at her from the table. Stifling a laugh Lily took the letter from the owl, which then proceeded to fly back out the window.

"Don't you EVER let one of those…those FREAK things near me again" Petunia screamed at Lily's back as she headed back up to her room.

That's odd, though Lily, the envelope is heaver this year.

She quickly opened it and noticed the second envelope right away.

"Miss. Evans,

I am pleased to announce that you had been made Head Girl this year. You will please come to the Prefects compartment once arriving on the train…."

Lily didn't even get through the rest of the letter before she let out a high pitched squeal of delight and sprinted once again down the stairs to tell the news to her parents.

"Oh Lily, we are so proud of you!" Her mother said, her eyes sparkling with pride.

"I knew you would make us proud! Oh well we will just have to do something to celebrate this. How about you and your friends get together tomorrow, maybe to get your supplies, afterward you can all come here and you can have a small party!"

Lily grinned at her parents and nodded. She quickly climbed the stairs and walked back in to her room. She placed the shiny new badge on her bed side table, and sat back down at her desk. Lily called her owl, Edward, to her and quickly wrote three notes to her three best friends telling them of her news and that she wanted to go to Diagon Alley to collect her supplies tomorrow, asking if they too wanted to come and if they could then come to her house for the party. With in an hour all three had responded saying that yes they were going to come and that they should all meet at the Leaky Cauldron. Lily smiled and then tried to get back to work on her essay.

After a few minutes of attempting she found that she could not longer concentrate on her essay and began to wonder who Head Boy would be.

_Remus would be ok I guess, oh and I hope it isn't Snape. Goodthorn from Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad I guess. Oh but I don't think I would like working with the Hufflepuff prefect Enright, no no ... he is not much of a leader_. _Guess I will have to wait till September 1__st__ to see!!_

A/N: Meh, sorry it's short but the next chapter will be longer hopefully! Diagon Alley! YAY! Like it? Hate it? REVIEW!!


	3. Diagon Alley

DISCLAMER: J.K. Rowling owns the world of Harry Potter. I am just a measly person wishing to play in said world.

A/N: First I would like to thank all of those who reviewed: PaCho de Nacho, Kkenzzie, monse evans, Pouncing Padfoot 146, fattoad, and loverofbooks20. Also I realized that my JPOV and LPOV things weren't really true because it isn't actually them being like "I did this…I said this" so I have decided that from this point forward there will be no more of that…just a line when ever it switches from what Lily is doing and what James is doing. Ok? Well then…read on!

"LILS!"

Lily grinned as she entered the Leaky Cauldron only to hear her best friend, Alice Pedin shout her name. Turning to find her, Lily found her self stumbling backwards from the hug that her short, black haired friend had bestowed upon her. Behind Alice, Lily saw her other two best friends, Kathleen Saxton and Abigail Brockledhurst, grinning with amusement at their small friend's excitement. Seeing her looking at them, the two friends waved merrily and moved to pry Alice from Lily.

"So Lily, now that you can breathe again, tell us: How does it feel to be the new Head Girl?" Kathleen began in a joking announcer type voice, one that she usually reserved for her commentary job during the Quidditch matches, whipping her long dark brown hair from her blue eyes "Tell us all the details. Your fears, your excitements, and how, Lily, will you deal with not knowing who the new head boy is? We all await your answers with baited breath."

Lily giggled and then responded, "It feels fantastic I must tell you. This year has quite a bright out look in my opinion and my only fear as of yet is that I won't like my partner. As of how I will deal with not knowing, I shall just pretend that it will be someone I love!"

"Ok Lily, now the big question" Kathleen said, her face showing mock seriousness, "How will you use your new found power to get us all out of any trouble, that is if we should get in to some?"

"I would have to say that I would-"

"OH JUST SHUT IT YOU TWO!" Abigail yelled. Both of the two girls fell in to quite giggles, they had been doing this fake interview routine since second year and only continued it because it bothered Abbie. "Honestly, you would think that as seventh years you would be slightly more mature."

"Oh lighten up Abbie; we haven't seen each other all summer. Can't we have some fun?" Alice pouted.

"Oh, fine! Come on lets get started! I vote we go to get ice cream first!" And with those words she started running toward Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, her long light brown hair billowing behind her as she yelled over her shoulder "last one there pays!" The three other girls laughed and started sprinting after her.

They all skidded to a halt right out side the door, panting for breath.

"I so won that race" stated Kathleen.

"NO WAY! I beat you by at least two seconds!" Alice countered.

"Nuhuh! I beat YOU by at least two seconds Alice dear! I clearly won!"

While to two had been arguing, Lily and Abigail had snuck around them and made it in to the shop. When Kathleen and Alice finally looked around, they noticed Lily and Abbie laughing while looking out the window at them. When they opened the door, Lily stated between laughs "Guys, I think you both lost! Abbie and I got in the store before you two did, and you two got in at the same time, tying for last, so you both lose! And you know the rules, losers pay!"

Grumbling under their breaths, the two girls forked up the correct amount of money and all four left the store licking their ice cream happily.

"Where shall we go next?" Lily asked.

"I vote Madam Malkin's, I seriously need new robes. My old ones look so grungy!" Alice said walking toward the small shop. After the robe shop the four girls headed to Flourish and Blotts to collect their new text books and, for Lily, to pick up a new copy of Hogwarts, A History because her old one was "not nearly up to date." After a quick visit to the Apothecary to pick up some new potions supplies, the four headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to grab some lunch.

As they sat down they heard a bark like laugh coming from the corner of the restaurant, followed by three other laughs that the four girls knew all too well.

"Oh, great! What are they doing here?" Lily murmured to her friends, while shooting a glance at four boys.

"Most likely the same as us Lily," Alice stated while rolling her eyes "looking for the stuff for school. It's not like they came here specifically to bother you." Alice had been friends with James and Sirius since second year when all three of them made it on to the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Alice and James as chasers and Sirius as a beater.

"Yes well, let's just hope that they don't notice that we are-"

"OY! Evans!"

"Here…oh great"

"'llo there Evans! How are you doing this very fine afternoon?" James Potter asked as he pulled a chair swiftly up to their table, the other three Marauders following him.

"I was fine until recently." Lily said, her face turning slightly red out of annoyance.

"Ah, well these things cannot be helped. Hello Saxton, Brockledhurst, Alice" James said, nodding to each of the girls in turn.

"Hey James!" Alice said happily "Would you happen to know who captain is this year?"

"No I would not Alice, why do you ask?"

At the mention of Quidditch Sirius's head had popped up.

"Why, it's me!" Alice said, barley stopping her self from yelling out the news.

"Really?! Oy! That's fantastic Alice!"

"Yeah! When will our first practice be? Oh and I was thinking about this new beater move Bromley and I could do-"

"Honestly Black, school hasn't even started. Talk strategy some other time!" Kathleen huffed, clearly annoyed.

"Oh, I am so very sorry Queen Kathleen; here let's move the conversation to you. Will that make it all better? How are _you_? Was _your_ summer quite good? Did _you_ enjoy _your_ self?" Sirius said in response, emphasizing each you, or your.

"Oh ha ha! Black you are just so funny." Kathleen said rolling her eyes at the black haired, grey eyed boy who sat in front of her.

"Actually, I thought it was quite funny" James stated.

"Oh, like either of them actually want your opinion Potter. You never know when you should keep your head out of other peoples business do you?" Lily said glairing.

"HEY! Don't talk to Prongs like that!" Sirius yelled.

"YOU! Don't talk to LILY like that!" Kathleen yelled back.

And with that, the two couples were off bickering leaving Remus, Peter, Alice and Abbie to make conversation amongst their selves which was often the way that it went when ever these two groups met.

After about ten minutes the two fighting parties began to simmer down and the Marauders went separate ways from the four girls.

"Thank goodness they are gone" Lily sighed "Come on; let's go to my house for the party now!"

The four girls quickly paid and set off to the Evans home. As they left Lily couldn't help but notice that James had not asked her out, a first. Maybe he had changed.

_Oh don't think too far in to it Lily,_ she scolded herself, _he must have just been distracted from the fight we had. There is no way that James Potter has remotely changed. _

* * *

James was furious; he and Lily had once again fought. This is what happened every time they talked, saw or even passed each other in the hall. What was their issue? More importantly, what was HER issue? Couldn't she see that he actually truly loved her?

"Prongs, mate cheer up! This is our day out and we will not have you mopping around, ruining it!" Remus said "And Padfoot, please stop mumbling mean things about Kathleen under your breath, we can all hear it and it is getting annoying. So both of you just get over your selves and let's go have fun!"

With that, the four boys decided to forget what had just happened and make the most out of the rest of the day. Peter wanted to go to Eeylops Owl Emporium to get a new screech owl, while Remus and, surprisingly Sirius, wanted to go to Flourish and Blotts and James wanted to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies to get a new broom, figuring that he had earned it, becoming Head Boy and all. The four decided to meet back up in a half hour out side of Gringotts.

"Ah, well if it isn't James Potter. How are you Jamie? Are you sad about your parents?" A sickeningly sweet girl's voice spoke from behind James, speaking as though it were talking to a baby.

"Hello Bella. How are you?" James said in a monotone, refusing to take the bait of Bellatrix Black.

"I am just fine. But I am worried about you, itty bitty James-y. Poor wittle James lost his parents. What ever will he do?" She said with a cackle "I told you that you were on the wrong side Potter. Now you know. Too bad your parents couldn't join us when they had the chance. But you, Potter, you still have a chance. Join us and what happened to your parents will never happen to you."

James was sickened by the offer. How could this person expect him to join the ranks of the very people who killed his parents "Black, I would rather die then join you and your little master Voldemort," Bella flinched "Oh, you can't bear to her your masters name. Hum, I guess that shows how big of a coward you really are, not even able to say a simple name." James smirked and started walking away, going to perchance his new broom, the newest Cleansweep.

As he neared the register, he heard the owner yell "HEY! You girl, no wands out in my store, go on! GET OUT NOW!" Followed by the door swinging open and then closed. James knew that Black would have tried to attack him, but he figured she would have at least waited until they had both exited the store, but then again, she had never been that smart. With one final smirk, James paid for his broom and headed off toward Gringotts to meet his friends.

James arrived just after Sirius and Remus had and the three sat on the steps that led up to the band chatting about Bellatrix's feeble attempt to get James to join the Death Eaters. As it turned out, Sirius and Remus had both been approached by Death Eaters, and had too been asked to "join the cause." Both turned them down right away. As the boys talked they realized that Peter was at least fifteen minutes late.

"I know he's our mate and everything, but really, this does get annoying sometimes" Sirius said under his breath as the three boys stood up to go looking for their other friend.

"HEY! I wonder if he's late because someone got to him too, like Bellatrix or something." James said.

Just as they started walking off toward Eeylops Owl Emporium too see if Peter had gotten himself in to trouble Remus spotted the short boy scurrying toward them.

"Hey Wormtail!" James said when Peter finally arrived; looking more jumpy then he did when he had left to go to the store. The boy's eyes continually glanced around, like he had just done something wrong and was afraid of being caught in the act. "What's the matter with you? You look as though you just committed a crime."

"W-what do you mean Prongs? Nothing's the matter. Let's just head back to pick up our books and other stuff and then head to your house for cake, I'm starved." And with that, Peter turned on his heal with his three friends following behind him, exchanging puzzled looks and headed off toward Flourish and Blotts for James and Peter to collect their books, all thoughts of the questions they were going to ask Peter about being asked to join Voldemort thrown from their minds. Their final stop was at a small shop close to the Leaky Cauldron to get new quills and some new parchment.

Finally they made their way to the Potter House to celebrate James's new position as Head Boy. About half through the party though, James realized that he had forgotten to ask Lily if she was Head Girl.

_Oh well_, he thought, _I guess I will just have to wait until September 1__st__._

A/N: There we go; this one was the longest so far! I promise they are going to start getting even longer soon! Any Hoo- REVIEW PLEASE!


	4. Head Boy and Girl

AN: AHHH

**DISCLAMER**: Alas, I do not own the wonderful universe of Harry Potter. Thanks for bringing up that sore topic 

**A/N**: AHHH!! I know, I know! I am evil…it has been four weeks? Maybe more! SORRY! My sister just left for college (YAY for her…sad for me) so I had to go help her move in, etc. And school started three weeks ago so I have been busy with that! And not to mention I am having some second thoughts on how I started this story BUT I am going to try and work through it. I PROMISE I will not just stop writing it…I hate it when people do that. SORRY again! BUT here is a new chapter…and I am trying to make it good so that it will make up for the evil delay!! Thanks so very much to all of those who read, added this story, or me, as a favorite, added to updates, and reviewed!! **NewMoonEpiphany****, ****Kkenzzie****, ****Pouncing Padfoot 146****, ****loverofbooks20****, and ****fattoad** are all of the people who reviewed for chapter three!! THANKS!! It means SO much…and if you reviewed and I didn't mention you PLEASE tell me so I can give you the credit you so rightly deserve!!

"OI!! Prongs, have you seen my left shoe??" Sirius Black yelled to his best mate while scrambling about his room at the Potter House looking for the last of his belongings to shove in to his trunk before he and James were to Apparate to platform 9 and ¾.

"Try looking in the bottom cabinet in the kitchen, I think Yorry shoved it in there to keep you from chewing on it when you were Padfoot the other night! Remember?"

Sirius didn't respond, only proceeded to run to the kitchen to grab his shoe.

"All right then, I've got everything" Sirius stated once the troublesome shoe was collected.

"Yeah, me too" responded James.

"BYE YORRY!" they two boys yelled at once before they looked at one another and, with slight nods to indicate that they were on the same page, both spun on the spot and Disapparated with a small pop.

* * *

The Evans house hold was, by far, much calmer on the morning of September 1st then the Potter House was. Lily had previously packed all of her belongings and enjoyed her last few hours at home sharing a peaceful meal with her parents, her sister Petunia had spent the night at a friend's house so Lily did not have to deal with the constant mumbling of the word "freak" under her sister's breath.

About ten minutes to eleven Lily got up from the table and announced to her parents that she should probably get going.

"Bye Mum, bye Dad" Lily said, giving each of them a large hug in turn "See you at Christmas!"

Lily grabbed her trunk and with one last wave to her parents spun on the spot and, she too, Disapparated with a small pop. Promptly the feeling of being squeezed through a tiny tube seized Lily and darkness surrounded her. Finally the pressure was released and she came out of her Apparation rather ungracefully and fell on her bottom.

"Um, it's nice to see you too Evans but I must say, I didn't think that we were this close."

Lily let out a slight squeal and jumped up off what she thought had been the ground. She spun around to see a rather ruffled Sirius Black sitting right under where she had just been. _Well, I thought the ground was oddly soft. _

Lily turned a bright shade of pink that clashed with her wonderfully red hair, "Sorry 'bout that Black. I came out of the Apparation oddly. I, er, didn't mean to, er, land on you"

"It's ok Evans; I have girls falling for me every day!" Sirius said with a wink.

Laughter came from somewhere behind Lily and she spun around once again, this time to see Alice clutching her stomach, eyes brimming with tears because of the scene she had just witnessed.

"That may have been the funniest thing I have ever seen!" She managed to chock out between laughs "Oh, Sirius, you should have SEEN your face when she came out of no where and landed on you!"

Alice was then lost to another uncontrollable fit of giggles.

* * *

While this was occurring, James helped Sirius off the ground, slightly miffed that Lily had landed on Sirius instead of on him.

"All I am saying mate," Sirius started while brushing off his muggle attire he had worn to the station, and rubbing what was soon to be a very sore behind "is that that girl is insane. You sure do have your hands full!"

James just simply stared off toward the girl who he had liked since first year and watched her get on the train. While running a hand through his already messed up raven hair he caught a glance of his wrist watch which read 10:58.

"OI! Only two minutes, come on Padfoot, we have to get on the train!"

The two boys grabbed their trunks and ran up the steps to the Hogwarts express. Just as they filed in to the Hogwarts Express, the whistle blew and the train set off.

The two Marauders made their way to the last compartment of the train, nodding their greetings to those they passed. When they finally arrived to the compartment that the Marauders had shared since that first faithful train ride when they all happened to sit next to each other, the found Remus and Peter already in it, playing, what looked to be, a very intense game of exploding snap.

"Wormtail! How is it that your eye brows are already singed off? The train just left the platform!" James asked shaking his head as he plopped down in the seat next to his rather short (a maybe slightly pudgy) friend.

"It's not my fault. You know how good Moony is at this game" grumbled Peter, as another explosion went off.

"Prongs, we are going to have to leave in about ten minutes to go to the Prefect meeting. Change in to your robes; you need to at lease pretend that you are going to set a good example." Said Remus distractedly, he full attention was still on the game.

"HEY!" yelped James indignantly, "I fully intend of setting a good example for all the students this year!"

"Sure you do Prongs, sure you do."

James quickly grabbed the robes from his trunk and changed.

"Come on Remus!" James said, pulling the young werewolf away from his game "I don't want to be late for the first meeting!"

"Good luck, Prongsy! Tell us who the Head Girl is when you get back!" Sirius yelled after them, scooting over to take the place of Remus in the epic game of exploding snap.

* * *

Lily arrived just out side the Prefects compartment only to hear voices already coming from the inside. _Oh no! I hope I'm not late. _She thought, glancing down at her watch only to see that there was still two minutes until the meeting started. _I wonder who would arrive early. Most of the Prefects only being to filter in at least five minutes after they are supposed to. _

Just as she placed her hand on the door handle to open it, she heard a very familiar laugh filter out of the compartment. _No, _she thought, opening the door, _no it can't be…Dumbledore would never chose him to be Head Boy, there is no way that it is _

"Potter!"

The last word was yelped aloud, having just opened the door to see James Potter laughing at something Remus Lupin must have just told him. James looked up at the sound of his name.

"Hello Evans. How are you?"

"Potter, this compartment is for the Prefects along with the Head Boy and Girl only, so please get out NOW!"

"Ahh, Lily flower, you haven't caught on yet have you? I am Head Boy, so I do not have to 'get out'" He said simply, pointing toward the shiny Head Boy badge that gleamed upon his chest.

"Very funny Potter, now give Remus back his badge and LEAVE!"

James shook his head.

"Um, Lily, that's not my badge. James really IS Head Boy. Came as quite a bit of a shock to all of us." Remus mumbled the last part under his breath, but loud enough so that both James and Lily could hear him. He received a sharp blow to the side for his comment from James.

"What! NO! That's not…there's no way…WHAT WAS DUMBLEDORE THINKING?!"

Just then, the Prefects started to file in, and each of them gave Lily an odd look for her out burst. She was still in shock, Potter, JAMES POTTER, Head Boy? But he had broken every rule there was, he was arrogant, he cursed people for no reason.

Unfortunately, Lily could not express these opinions in front of the Prefects; it would show disunity in their leadership.

"Hello there!" James started once all of the Prefects had filed in. They all gave him an odd looks, thinking along the same line that Lily was. "I am your Head Boy this year, James Potter and this is-"

"I am quite able to introduce my self Potter, thanks" Lily said snidely, she couldn't help it, he was already annoying her "I am Lily Evans."

James looked at her oddly, but continued on with his speech. Lily was quite surprised by this. Usually there was some rude retort, or some want to be witty comment. But none this time. The two told the Prefects of their duties, gave them the passwords to their respective houses and sent them off to parole the corridors in different shifts until the train arrived at Hogwarts. Once that last Prefect, Remus, had left Lily rounded on James.

"So."

"So…what?" James, who had been gathering the note that Dumbledore had left him, along with his tie, which he had taken off half way through the meeting, seeing as it was bothering him.

"So, what did you do to Dumbledore to get him to give you the place of Head Boy? HU? A spell, or a curse maybe? Got him good and drunk before he was to choose. A bribe?"

"I..wha-! How in the WORLD could you even think that Evans? You honestly think that I would do something like that. That I am that cruel? Or conniving? I had NOTHING to do with this decision. I found out in a letter, same as you. I had NO idea that this was coming. And frankly, that you even think that I would do something remotely close to one of those things is just humiliating."

Lily was shocked to see actual hurt in James's eyes. He had truly been insulted by what she had accused him of.

"I…look I'm sorry. I just find it hard to believe that you, James Potter of all people, would receive this position. I mean, it is all about responsibility, about rule keeping, not breaking, about being a good role model, and being a person that any one can approach with questions, or concerns. And frankly, you Potter, are none of those things."

"I may not have been. But every one changes. Sure, I have pulled pranks in the past, but have any one of them actually hurt any one? I may have hexed people, but have you noticed I haven't done any of that since the first half of sixth year? And you know people can change. No matter what you think of them. Maybe Dumbledore saw that in me. I don't know. But the point isn't how I go this position; it's that I DID get this position. And I am going to take the full responsibility of it. I will do this job and I will do it well." With that, James turned on his heal and left the room.

Lily stood there for a few moments after James had left. Never had James stood up for him self before, never had he been so upfront. With out thinking, Lily ran out the door after James.

"Potter! Potter!" She called after him.

He turned around, clearly still annoyed with her comments, "Yes?"

"Look, I'm sorry" his eyes widened as she said this, "I didn't mean it like that. I just, was shocked I guess. It was rude of me to react that way. So, do you want to at least try and be civil, for the sake of our job?" She extended her hand.

James stared at it and then looked at her face as though she had just sprouted an elephant trunk. "Sure" he said cautiously, as though she was going to pull her hand back at the last second, jinx him and scream "FOOLED YA!"

He stuck out his own hand and shook hers. As soon as his skin made contact with her own, it felt as though an electric shock ran up the length of her arm. She quickly pulled her hand back, shocked.

"So, um, yeah. Civil." She mumbled.

"Yeah, civil." James replied, looking confused.

Lily started to turn away before she remembered something.

"Oh, and Potter?"

"yeah?"

"Sorry about your parents."

Something flashed in James's eyes, there was sorrow, and lots of it. Lily hadn't realized how much their deaths were affecting him. _Well duh!_ She thought to her self, _it only happened a few weeks ago. Duh it is still affecting him! _

"Thanks" he mumbled, turning away.

Lily watched as he walked down the hall and turned in to his usual compartment. She couldn't seem to figure out why she was so affected by the way he had reacted before. She never had been before, never really cared about how the words she had said had affected him. _So why now_, she wondered as she slowly made her way to her own compartment.

* * *

Remus, Sirius, and Peter all looked up when James entered and immediately noticed that something was wrong.

"What happened" Peter asked.

James looked at him for a few moments, and the three friends could see the pain that was in his eyes. They hadn't seen that since the day of the funeral.

James explained about the conversation they had had and how angry he had been.

"It was odd, I have never actually been that hurt by something she had said before. It just made me so mad that she thought that."

James then went on to explain about how she had run after him, and their agreement to be "civil". When he finally got to the part about how she had told him she was sorry about his parents, he broke down.

The other Marauders quickly set about charming the compartment, making sure that no one could tell that James was crying when the looked in the compartment, knowing full well that James would hate for any one to see him like this. But his friends knew he needed to cry, he had bottled up his sadness, his depression, over his parents deaths for so long, they new it had to come eventually.

After the crying had subsided, James quickly performed a cleaning charm on his face and erased all signs that he had ever been crying.

"Sorry 'bout that" James mumbled.

"It's ok mate. You needed a good cry." Remus stated.

By the time all of the charms were taken off and James was back to his usual happy self, the train was about to pull in to the station. The four best friends grabbed their trunks and headed toward the doors.

**A/N** Woo hoo! Another chapter down! This is my longest one yet…although not by that much! SORRY I am trying to make them longer, and the next one will be!! Sooo REVIEW!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!! It would be much appreciated!


	5. Prank Planning

A/N: WOOT

**A/N**: WOOT! Quick update…at least I am planning on it being a quick update. I have begun and finished writing this the day after my previous post so it SHOULD be up soon. Any ways…THANKS SOO MUCH to all of those who reviewed, favorited, or added to alerts! Reviewies for chapter four are fattoad, Kkenzzie, loverofbooks20, NewMoonEpiphany, IWantAWerewolfToImprintOnMe, and Pouncing Padfoot 146! It means so much and makes me write much quicker if people review! And so…on to the actually story instead of my useless ramblings. I own nothing.

The four Marauders sprinted through the swarm of other Hogwarts students to get to one of the carriages. Upon climbing in they quickly shut the door so that no other person could enter.

"Ok, so first day of school prank! What to do, what to do?" Sirius asked, after the door was firmly closed.

"Look, Padfoot, I don't know about this. I mean I know that it is a tradition, but I'm Head Boy this year and a prank wouldn't exactly be a good example…" James started.

"Prongs! You cannot back out on us now, in our time of need. You're right, this is a tradition! You can't go breaking it just because of some new responsibility."

James still looked hesitant.

"Ok Prongs, here, we won't do a big prank. Nothing too extravagant, just a little one. No one will be hurt! They never do! Come on!!"

"No one will be hurt?" The other three could see that James was considering it now.

"James, mate, I have been a Prefect for two years now and trust me: a little prank will not make Dumbledore mad enough to take away your badge. Besides, when do we ever leave enough evidence that it can actually be PROVEN that it was us? You'll be fine!" Remus stated.

"Ok, ok. I know I am being a prude if Moony is telling me I need to get in on it!" James joked, "So, what's the plan?"

"Well, actually, this one was Wormtail's idea…"

The four boys planned their prank during the ride up to the castle and all through out the sorting and Dumbledore's pre-dinner words. But when they heard the words "Tuck in" uttered from their Headmaster's mouth, the planning was put aside for more important measures: food.

Finally after the last student had finished their meal, Professor Dumbledore stood up and held up his hand for silence.

"Welcome back to a new year at Hogwarts! We have a new caretaker this year, Mr. Filch. He and his cat will patrol the school at night so that now mischief makers can get out. Next, Quidditch captains can sign up for practice times on the door of their Head of House. Now on a darker note, I am sure that all of you have noticed that Lord Voldemort" here a collective shudder ran through most of the students "has gained more power over this summer. Many of you have lost loved ones, or know some one who has, to him and his Death Eaters. I implore you please stay close to your friends. They will be very helpful in these times. It is important that we band together in these dark times. And finally, will the new Head Boy and Head Girl please meet me out side of my office directly after having been released? That is all, good night!"

There was a loud screeching of chairs as the hundreds of students pulled back their chairs to leave.

"'Band together in these dark time'? I'll band together with any one as long as they're not Slytherin…" Mumbled Sirius.

"See ya up in the common room." James said as he walked away, shaking his head at his best mates comment.

With his hands in his pockets, James followed the much traveled path to Dumbledore's office. He had lost count of how many times he had been sent there or had just gone there to talk to Dumbledore. When he finally stopped in front of the stone Gargoyle, he found that he was the first to arrive. But after only a few moments of waiting, he saw Lily and Dumbledore approaching together.

"Ah, good! Mr. Potter is already here. Well come on you two, let's go up! Fizzing Whizbees!"

With the last statement the Gargoyle jumped out of the way and the staircase to Dumbledore's office appeared.

"Forgive me, I must go check on something very quickly, if you two would just wait right there" Dumbledore indicated two rather plushy looking chairs, "it would be much appreciated. I shall return quickly."

James and Lily both took as seat as Dumbledore made his way out of the room. A rather awkward silence remained between the two of them before a pure note rang through the room and a beautiful bird swooped through the air and landed on the arm of James's chair.

"Fawks! How are you?" James exclaimed, rubbing the Phoenix under the chin. "You're getting a little gray. Is it burning time soon?"

The bird just let out another note in replay.

"You…you know that bird?" Lily asked rather hesitantly.

James was surprised that she had bothered making conversation at all, but then again he guess that she was taking her promise to be civil rather seriously.

"Yeah, Fawks and I go way back to first year. I met him when I was first sent up here for some prank that I pulled. We have been mates ever since."

"Interesting," she replied, nodding rather stiffly.

"So, Evans, do you want to-"

"NO! No, Potter, I will not go out with you. Honestly, how many times do I have to say no before you get it through your think skull that I do not like you?" Lily fumed.

"Uh, well, I wasn't actually going to ask that. I was going to ask if you wanted to pet Fawks. But um, thanks for that statement. You sure are great at being civil." James muttered the last part under his breath sarcastically.

Lily blushed a bright shade of pink and opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by the Headmaster re-entering the room.

"Oh my! Is it really that hot in here?" Dumbledore asked, glancing at Lily's pink face with a slight twinkled in his eye, "Miss. Evans, you are all red. I can cast a cooling charm if it is needed."

Lily turned a slightly brighter shade of red and quickly shook her head no.

"Right then! On with the meeting! I have called you both here to inform you of your duties. You will have to parole the hallways together as least three times a week. The rest of the days will be designated to the other Prefects. You are also in charge of coordinating the Hogsmeade visits and any other activities that you might find interesting. There will be two Prefect meetings a month, where you will discuss different matters involving the school and other such things. There is a special Head bathroom for your use and it is located just next to the painting of the three sisters with the flowers in their hair on the forth floor, do you know the one?" both nodded their consent "Good! The password is 'Bloem' Now, any questions?"

Both shook their heads. "Ok then, you are dismissed. Your first night of parole will be tomorrow night, and the time that you will do it every night after is 9-11. Right then! Until next time…"

"Oh, Professor, can I talk to you? Alone?" James asked at the last minute.

"Why yes, you may Mr. Potter."

Lily gave James an odd look, but then bid fair well to the two men and exited the office.

"What is it that you need to ask me Mr. Potter?"

"Well, not to be rude Professor, but I was questioning your decision about making me Head Boy. Why did you do it?" Although James had defended Dumbledore's decision to chose him to Lily, he still questioned it him self.

"Ah, yes. Well I had thought that this question would come up but to be completely honest I had though that it would have been Miss. Evans that would be the asker. James, you truly are a wonderful wizard. You are smart, top of your class, and are a loyal friend. You care deeply about those you love and would do anything for them. You truly do not want any one to get hurt, this you proved when you saved Mr. Snape's life last year. Your parents were just killed and yet here you are. Clearly you were effected but you are not letting the anger take over your life, you know that you must move on."

Here James interrupted.

"But, sir, that's not true. I am angry, furious in fact. I want to do everything that I can to stop those idiot's that killed my parents. They deserve to be punished and I want to do it. I hate them with every fiber of my being. And I only saved Snape because I knew that if Moon-Remus hurt him he would never forgive himself. And besides, no one deserves that fate."

"See, that shows that you are a good man James. Although you loath Mr. Snape, you still but aside that loathing for your friend and because you knew it was right. Yes you may be angry about your parents deaths, but James, you are not letting that take over your life. You could have gone after their killers, not come back here. You could have let your self go and spend the rest of your life in a rage shutting out those who love you. But you aren't, instead you are here, learning so that some day you can bring those who so cruelly murdered your parents to justice. That makes you a great man, Mr. Potter. And you still have your sense of humor. Humor in these dark times is important. It gives people hope, makes them laugh and it takes their minds off that horridness that is going around them, if only for a few moments. You truly were the best choice for this job Mr. Potter, whether or not you chose to believe it."

James was shocked at the high praise that was just given to him by his Headmaster, the man he had looked up to for so long.

"Thank you, sir. I guess I'll be going now…" James said, standing up and heading toward the door, still in a slight daze over the way Dumbledore had just described him.

"Good night Mr. Potter…you will do great things some day." The last part was muttered after the door was closed and James was to never hear it.

* * *

Lily walked slowly back from Dumbledore's office, lost in thought about what Potter and Dumbledore were talking about. She was slightly miffed that Potter got the chance to have a private conversation with Dumbledore. It was clear to her the James was much more comfortable in the Headmaster's office then she was. This, she assumed, was because of the numerous times he had been sent there for the mayhem that he had caused around the school. But it seemed as though he had been there more often then just to be scolded by Dumbledore. The relationship between the two, although she was rather ashamed to admit it, made her jealous.

Lily arrived at the Fat Lady and said the password (Domus!) and climbed through the portrait hole. Upon entering the common room she found her best friends in a corner talking amongst them selves.

"Look whose back, our little Head Girl!" Abbie cooed as Lily approached them.

"Oh shut it Abbie." Lily grumbled as she plopped in to a seat.

"Oh, was Potter annoying at the meeting then?" Asked Kathleen in response to Lily's shortness.

"NO! That's what's so bothersome. I have come to expect the annoyingness from him. I have come to expect that he will ask me out every chance that he gets and yet during the entire time we were together, he was not annoying once. Nor did he ask me out once! I thought he was at one point and proceeded to make an utter fool out of my self. It's just so aggravating that I can no longer predict him." Lily ranted, her hands moving through out the air making wild gestures as she did so.

Her three best friends exchanged glances.

"Um, Lils, if I didn't know better I would think that you sound, well, disappointed that James didn't ask you out." Alice said, rather hesitantly, knowing that this would cause a major rise out of her green eyed friend.

Sure enough Lily exploded.

"I…WHAT? No, no that cannot be it. I bet he is just putting it off and is going to do something major, huge in face. Something that will embarrass the heck out of me. Ugg…that Potter!!" Lily continued ranting.

Her friends just rolled their eyes. Lily could deny it all she wanted to, but they all knew that she was really bothered by James's lack of interest.

The portrait hole opened again and James walked in, looking deep in thought. He was quickly called to a corner on the opposite side of the room by his friends. As soon as he arrived, the four boys started whispering quickly, glancing around every once in a while to see if any one was close enough to be listening.

"They're up to something!" exclaimed Lily "UG! It had better not be one of those stupid pranks again. Potter is Head Boy now!! He should know better! I have half a mind to go over there are yell at him right now!"

As though he had heard Lily's words, James looked up and glanced in her direction. After seeing the mad look on her face, he turned back to his friends and whispered something. The three others glanced in her direction as well and then all nodded at James. They quickly gathered up all the parchments and quills that had been surrounding them and made their way up to their room. Not saying one thing to each other on the way up. Lily's eyes followed them all the way up the stairs, until they were out of sight.

* * *

Once they were safe in their dormitory, the Marauders went back to work on their epic prank that was to be pulled the next Monday at dinner. There was quite a bit of prep-work that needed to be done and the four boys had their work cut out for them. Around eleven Peter said that he had to leave, claiming that he needed to use the loo. But on his way out he discreetly took the invisibility cloak and was gone for over thirty minutes. None of his friends noticed, they were too enthralled in their work. If they had looked up when Peter walked back in to their room, they might have noticed black mark that was briefly shown on his forearm when he quickly shoved the cloak back among James's things.

**A/N**: OHH!! Peter's one bad person, isn't he?! Any ways!! Quick update! This chapter's about the same length as the last…maybe a wee bit shorter. But still. PLEASE REVIEW!! It's amazing to get reviews…I love it! And I would love you if you gave me them to read winks Oh and yes "Bloem" means flower in Dutch and "Domus" means home in Latin!


	6. Saturday

**A/N:** I know that this update was not nearly as quick as the last…but it was also not nearly as slow as the one prior so at least I have that going for me. Once again thanks a million to all of those who favorited, added to updates, and reviewed!! It is always much appreciated! Reviewers for the last chapter are: Pouncing Padfoot 146, Kkenzzie, sunnyXeclipse, loverofbooks20, PaCho de Nacho, Just Call Me Mrs Cullen, and SeekerGirl. People who just reviewed for prior chapters are: brittybee and Just Call Me Mrs Cullen. THANKS ALL!! –sigh- I am not totally happy with this chapter. It is quite short and bland, in my opinion, at times. Sorry about that. The next update will be soon!!

**DISCLAIMER: **Alas…I own nothing. Everything belongs to the fabulous JKR!

* * *

Lily, Kathleen, Alice, and Abigale spent much of the night sitting on the floor of their dormitory in a circle passing around candy and talking about any thing and everything. Around four o'clock in the morning the conversation turned once again toward the subject of Lily and James.

"Look" Lily started after about ten minutes of her friends pestering her about the topic "I am sure that Potter is a good person some where deep deep down. I am sure that there are qualities that are good but I have yet to see any of said qualities. Honestly, I can not, nor will I try to, ever picture the two of us getting along. I know I do tend to over react some times … most of the time" Lily adjusted because of a look from Alice "but usually what he has done is just simply idiotic. He needs to grow up and that is all I am going to say on this topic."

Lily finished her short speech by crossing her arms and shooting a look to her three friends that clearly said 'drop it or pay.'

The three decided to let the topic rest and they all fell in to a game of Truth or Dare that lasted well in to the morning.

The four best friends finally fell asleep when the first rays of golden light were just beginning to shine over the beautiful Hogwarts grounds.

Lily was the first to awake, a round 4 in the afternoon, and after stretching like a cat she stood up and walked over her friends to get some clothes and headed to the shower. By the time she was completely showered her friends were up and about. The four girls spent the rest of the lazy Saturday afternoon walking about the grounds, and while her three friends decided to head back to the common room Lily headed down to Hagrid's hut.

"Lily!" Hagrid bellowed "Well come in then! Down Fang!" He said pushing the small puppy out of Lily's way.

"Oh! You got a dog Hagrid!" She bent down to pet Fang, and in response the dog's tail proceeded to wag quicker, thumping against the leg of the table with each great swing.

"Yea. I got 'im from a fello' I met over the break. Nice man 'e was. Fang 'ere's gonna get ta be huge! I can't wait!" Happiness shown in the large man's eyes. He had always had a huge fancy of large or dangerous creatures.

"That's great Hagrid!"

The two talked for awhile before Lily informed the half-giant that she had to return to the castle for dinner and left with promises to visit soon.

Lily met her friends in the Great Hall and they got a quick bite to eat before heading back to the common room.

Come nine o'clock Lily could be found curled up in the large fluffy arm chair closest to the fire with her Charms book flipping casually through the pages.

James approached her and taped her lightly on the arm, causing her to start slightly.

"What do you want Potter?" She snapped, her head whipping around to face him.

"It's time for us to patrol the halls." James replied simply, not taking her bait for a fight.

"Oh, right then. Well, let's go then." Lily stood up, leaving her book on the chair, and the two headed out the portrait hole and set off down the corridor together in an awkward silence.

After about ten minutes James could not longer take the awkward silence that was resting between them.

"So…how was your summer?" He asked, glancing at Lily's face, which betrayed, only for a second, her clear surprise at the question. Clearly she had expected for them to just walk along in silence the entire time.

"Fine" she responded simply. James waited for a few minutes to see if she would elaborate on her "fine" but when it became clear that she was not going to he spoke.

"Mine was fine too, thanks for asking. Sirius was there the entire time, he moved in with us actually. Remus and Peter stayed for a few weeks in June. That was good fun, although I think we may have given my Mum a few new gray hairs while they were there. I have this field in my back yard that is all surrounded with trees that we use for Quidditch. No muggles really live near us, but just in case on walked by they wouldn't be able to see anything because of all the trees. We spent most of our time there, but we also swam in the creek that's in my backyard. It might be cold but it sure is fun! This one time Remus-"

"Look, Potter, why are you telling me all of this?" Lily interrupted. A quick look at her face told James that she was not angry, just curious. Genuinely confused as to why James was telling her things about his life.

"Well, because I hate silence. It makes me uncomfortable. And we are going to be walking around her for two more hours; we might as well make the most of it. Do you want these nightly walks to be awkward, silent affairs?"

"Well…no I guess I don't."

"Right then, so I guess I'll let you talk now. Let's try this question one more time. How was your summer?"

"Fine I guess. I mean as fine as it could be with Petunia there." Lily sighed, and James didn't miss the flash of sadness that momentarily clouded her emerald eyes.

"Petunia?"

"Oh right, she's my sister. We used to be best friends. We did everything together. But then I got my letter and came here…and when I got back she stopped talking to me. But after second year it was worse, that's when she started the name calling. When ever our paths cross at home the word "freak" is usually uttered at me from the side of her mouth so our mum won't notice. I guess I have adjusted to it. I spend most of my time in the park up the street from my house or in London. Any where that is not near her."

James was shocked. He never had any siblings but had always wanted them. Weren't they supposed to be the people there for you all the time? He had never really realized how hard it was to be Lily, she was an outcast in this world because she was a muggle born, and she was an outcast in the muggle world because she was a witch.

"Well, this Petunia seems really stupid to be. You are a great person and she has no idea what she is missing by being so mean to you." James said simply.

Lily couldn't help but feel surprised by this comment, sure James had asked her out hundreds of times, but she just thought that it was because she was the only girl to ever say no. This was the first time that she actually considered the fact that James might actually, truly like her.

The two continued to talk all through out their walk around the castle. They talked about many different things and Lily was very surprised at how easily the conversation flowed between the two. The two hours passed quickly for the two Heads and when they arrived at the Fat Lady again, both were shocked at how well they got on when not rowing.

"Well, good night then" Lily said softly as she headed toward the girls stair case.

"Night" James replied, climbing up the boys.

While the rest of the Gryffindor tower were in their own little worlds dreaming wonderful dreams, two remained wide eyed in their beds, both thinking of the other.

* * *

**A/N:** Ug, so yes yes I am quite aware at the shortness of this chapter. I really wanted to add the prank in, but it just didn't seem to fit well and this part was super important because it shows that James and Lily are starting to get along. No worries though, they are no where close to actually being friends yet, there is much drama to come. I promise the next update will be quick and, hopefully, will make up for the shortness of this one. Review please…even if it is to tell me that I suck, please review!! THANKS! And talk to you VERY soon. I promise…the next chapter is already started.


	7. Pranks

Sunday passed in a blur for the Hogwarts students and too soon they found them selves sitting at tables in the Great Hall awaiting their class schedules

**A/N**: Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter: Kkenzzie, PaCho de Nacho, and Pouncing Padfoot 146. On to the chapter.

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing –sigh-

* * *

Sunday passed in a blur for the Hogwarts students and too soon they found them selves sitting at tables in the Great Hall awaiting their class schedules.

McGonagall walked up and down the Gryffindor table handing time tables to all of the seventh years. After receiving theirs the four Marauders rose and began the journey to Defense Against the Dark Arts, their first class, which happened to be a double period.

"Who do you reckon is going to be the new teacher?" Peter wondered as they neared the classroom.

"Dunno. It's odd isn't it, that Dumbledore didn't introduce who ever it was at the feast. Usually he does if there is a new one. And we know that Jones would never have stayed after that incident with the merpeople." Sirius snickered at the memory.

Professor Jones was a cruel man and did not hide the prejudice that he clearly had for Remus for being a werewolf. By the end of the year James and Sirius had had enough of the man and had levitated him, while he was asleep of course, over the lake and proceeded to drop him in. The merpeople were angry about the man waking them up due to the amount of rippling that was caused from his plunge in to the freezing waters and took him to their castle where they held him until Dumbledore interfered. James and Sirius never got in trouble seeing as Jones was asleep before being dumped in to the lake and had no idea how he ended up there. The grouchy man avoided the lake for the rest of the year, and once it was over he could be seen marching off the grounds, never looking back.

"Hopefully it's someone better than that prick." James replied.

"Anyone would be better than that prick" Remus muttered as the four boys entered the classroom, all looking toward the front to see who the new teacher was.

No one was there. Bemused, the boys took a seat, James and Sirius next to each other in the very back row, with Remus and Peter sitting together in front of them.

The rest of the students filed in, looking just as confused as the Marauders because of the lack of a professor. James noticed Lily walk in couldn't keep his mind from wandering to the conversations that they had had the prior night. The very thought of them still made him happy. It was clear that Lily did not hate him any more, or at the very least, she didn't hate him nearly as much.

"Silence please" A voice called from the back of the room. Right away total silence fell over the room and all reads turned toward the teacher who was making her way up to the front of the classroom.

"My name is Professor Grant. I am an old friend of Dumbledore's and when he approached me with this job offer, I couldn't refuse him. This may be my first time teaching, but do not think that means that I do not know what I am doing. I left this very school with an outstanding on both my O.W.L.s and my N.E.W.T.s in Defense Against the Dark Arts. I do know what I am doing. This class will not be easy; if you are not willing to put the work in I would suggest leaving right now. Other wise pull out your text books and open to page twelve. Read the passage and once everyone is done we will discuss what we think it is talking about and whether or not it is important. Proceed."

The room was filled with the sounds of books opening and pages flipping to page twelve and then a general silence fell as the students read.

After a few minutes a rather loud "Well?" from the front of the class room broke the silence and Remus' hand flew in to the air.

"Yes Mr.-"

"Lupin"

"Lupin, what are your opinions on this topic?"

"Well, I think that this author is completely insane. A Patronous is clearly the best way to get rid of a dementor. I mean, he says that you should just send a blast of light in its direction and it will zoom away, but that is just codswallop. Light doesn't have the same positive energy that a Patronous has, so clearly it would not work."

"Interesting point of view Mr. Lupin. Does any one have a countering opinion?"

Tyler Martin, a boy from Ravenclaw, shot his hand up in to the air.

"Yes you, what do you have to say?"

"Well, Remus had the jist of it; a Patronous would most likely be more effective but couldn't light work too? If only a little? It is positive too, so couldn't a strong Lumos charm drive a Dementor off, if at least for a few seconds which could be enough for a wizard or witch to apparate away. It would be useful to people who cannot produce a Patronous."

"Ahh, yes that is another good opinion. We shall have a debate about this topic next class, right now I would like you all to take down these notes" Grand waved her wand at the board and words started to write them selves on it "on the theory of light repealing a Dementor."

The class full of seventh year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws spent the rest of the time taking down notes. By the time the class let out they had a full foot parchment of notes and information.

"She will be good. It's really clear she knows her stuff" James stated simply as they headed down the corridor toward the Gryffindor common room for their free period.

"Yeah, a great improvement from last year!" Peter squealed.

"I say since we didn't get any homework from her, we should spend out free period putting the final touches on our prank for tonight." Sirius whispered under his breath to the others.

"Right then. Up to our dormitory we go!"

After their free period the Marauders headed to charms, and from there to lunch. Their final class of the day was Transfiguration, the period after it being another free one. Flitwick had the class review how to do many of the most elementary charm spell non-verbally and assigned an essay about non-verbal spells to all those who failed to complete this task, Peter being one of them.

"I just can't seem to do non-verbal spells!" Peter whined as he stuffed a spoon full on mash potatoes in to his mouth. "I need help!" This statement was accompanied by the spraying of small bits of mash potato flung in the Remus' face.

"Don't worry Wormtail, we'll help you. But only if you stop doing that!"

While James had been talking Peter had let out a giant "YES!" and splattered more mash potatoes.

McGonagall made it clear that she was going to be very hard on them this year because of N.E.W.T.s and gave then a one foot paper due next class on the theory of transfiguring a piece of parchment in to a mouse.

During the final free period the best friends could be found in the kitchens, placing the spells that were needed for their prank on different utensils and pieces of food. Just as the final period let out they finished and joined the crowd heading toward the Great Hall for food.

* * *

"Are you sure we timed it right?" James muttered under his breath to Remus about half way through their meal.

"Yes Prongs. We double checked everything. It should be starting any minute now. Just wait."

Surly enough about one minute after this conversation took place the clatter of forks, knives, and spoons dropping could be heard all over the Great Hall, followed by murmurs of questions.

"What just happened?"

"I didn't let go of my fork!"

"HEY! That spoon still had food on it!"

The mummers slowly quieted as another sound rose up in the hall.

"OHHH!!

We are your forks, spoons and knives.

You all use us every day, abusing us, taking away our lives.

It is really not appreciated

It is really not kind.

So please stop and keep in mind

We are not the only ones

That are fed up with you!"

The forks, knives and spoons had all jumped up and started dancing along to the toon of their song. The same verse was repeated over and over again but soon another song joined the utensils.

"OHHHH!!

We are you pieces of food

That you so cruelly chew, ruining our mood

You eat us,

You swallow us

You put us in your stomachs with out a single care

To the fact that we might not want to go there.

So you best keep in mind

Were are not the only ones

That are fed up with you!"

The last few lines were shouted by both the utensils and the food at the same time. All over the Great Hall pieces of food and utensils were dancing, some ballroom dancing, others break dancing, while two pieces of chicken at the Ravenclaw table could be seen doing the tango. Then all of the sudden they all got quite and went still.

The Great Hall erupted in giggles, though not nearly as many there usually were following a prank by the Marauders.

"Moony…the second part?! Why is it not happening?" Sirius whispered urgently, fearing that their reputation would be lost due to how anticlimactic the prank was.

Remus was staring at his watch intently and after a few brief moments he held up three fingers to his friends.

Then he held up two.

Then he held up one.

And once all of his fingers were down the four boys dove under the table as hundreds of screams filled the air. Food was flying every which way, flying in to people's hair, robes, faces, and any other part of them that was exposed. The Great Hall was a scene of students diving out of the way, under tables, behind their friends and one of squealing.

After a few moments Dumbledore seemed to decide that the Marauders had had enough fun for the evening and yelled calmly "FINITE INCANTATEM"

"Well well, that was most amusing. Would everyone please sit back down? Your pudding will be arriving soon." He sat back down and turned to have a conversation with McGonagall who seemed shocked that he had not called the Marauders out on their prank although she knew that there would be no proof to actually convict the mischief loving boys. Professor McGonagall her self had chicken hanging from her hat and quite a few bread crumbs sprinkled all over her robes and bun that was sticking out of the back of her head. She was doing her best to brush them off with a bit of dignity while listening to what ever Dumbledore was telling her. Dumbledore also had quite a large amount of food covering him, but he seemed to be making no move to rid of it, even as a bit of gravy dripped and covered his glasses. Hagrid seemed to be eating a bit of steak out of his bead and when he spotted James watching him he said simply "No use in wastin' it!"

James laughed and then looked over to the Slytherin table where there were quite a few angry faces, especially Snape. It seemed as though he had had an entire bowl of gravy dumped over his head and when he turned around James started to sputter in laughter. The mash potatoes had flown at him and spelled out the word "git" on his back.

Looking about the hall in general most people were laughing at the situation, and at the way that their friends looked. The only people who looked truly angry were the Slytherins and Lily.

Lily was glairing at James from down the table. _Oh great_, James thought, _she's mad._ _Tonight's patrol duty should be interesting_.

* * *

**A/N:** So did you like the prank? It's not the best I have ever thought up but I tried. Hopefully I shall update soon…I have already started on the next chapter. Until then Just Call Me Mrs Lupin


	8. Patrol

**A/N**: Sorry it took so long. I kept writing and rewriting this chapter but none of the drafts really made me that happy. This one is the one I finally decided on, I hope you like it. As always thanks so much to anyone who reviewed, put on alerts, or favorited my story! It means a lot. Those who reviewed are: fattoad, PaCho de Nacho, MkGrays, and Pouncing Padfoot 146.

**Disclaimer:** I am not the wonderful J.K. Rowling.

After a quick trip to the bathroom to remove the bits of food that were lodged in to her hair, Lily headed to the corridor just outside of the Fat Lady, the location where she and James had decided to meet before starting duty. She was fuming, how dare Potter pull a prank! He was Head Boy now! He needed to set a good example, to be responsible, and to follow the rules. What kind of role model was he? Making food and utensils sing and dance, and then the food fly through the air. She had thought after their last patrol together that he had changed, if only in the littlest way. But it was clear now that she had been wrong.

"'Lo Evans."

Lily spun around to find James approaching her, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Potter." She said simply, before turning on her heal and marching down the corridor, knowing that James would follow.

The first ten minutes of their patrol was filled with an awkward silence. Lily still fuming about the prank, and James awaiting the blow up that was about to come.

Sure enough, two minutes later James was not disappointed.

"How could you?!" The words burst from Lily's mouth before she even meant them too, and therefore sounded much less controlled then she would have wished.

"A prank Potter? You are Head Boy! You have responsibilities. Leave the stupid pranking to those not in such a high position as your self. You are such an immature, loathsome little boy. You never grew up; you still live in a world where everything is wonderful, where nothing can go wrong. Clearly Dumbledore was out of his mind the night he gave you the badge. You are nothing like a role model. Your giant head is so inflated that I am surprised you don't fall over because of top heaviness. You and your little friends think that you are all so invincible, that you can never be caught! Grow up!" Lily almost yelled, and then turned to stomp down the hall fully intending to finish the rest of patrol at lease five feet in front of James the entire time. But she was stopped when she felt him grab her arm and pull her back toward him.

"I live in a world where everything is wonderful?" James said, his voice calm, steady, the exact opposite of what Lily's had been through out her rant. "A world where everything is wonderful? Really? Well then clearly wonderful sucks. Does wonderful really involve having to be worried for my life, and the lives of all of my friends, every day because of this bloody war that's going on? Does wonderful involve my parents dying and me being left alone? Clearly we have very different impressions of what wonderful is." Lily stopped trying to yank her arm out of James' grasp.

"I didn't mean…I had forgotten…" Lily stammered.

"Lucky you." James said, dropping her arm. "And I know that I am not the best role model. I even asked Dumbledore why in Merlin's name he would name me Head Boy. He seemed to have pretty good reasoning. And how would you know if my head was inflated? Because of what other people say? Because of the way you think I act, the way that you want me to act so that you can continue on hating me? You have no right to judge me at all Lily Evans; you have never tried to get to know me. Except for our last patrol we have never actually had a civil conversation."

Lily was speechless, once again. How dare Potter assume that she just saw the parts of him that she wanted to see. She always looked for the good in people, not only the bad. But was that true? She gazed at the boy who she had hated for so long. He took her looks as a signal to continue talking.

"And pranking may be immature to you, but to others it is a relief. We are in the middle of a war here. People are dying every day. Students receive letters telling them that their mothers, fathers, siblings or other loved ones have died. No one has much reason to smile or laugh any more. People do their best to forget about what is all going on in the world, but it can be very difficult. A prank can cause that one depressed person to smile, if only for a few minutes. It can cause that one girl who is so worried about her brother who is little and hasn't come to Hogwarts yet to forget those worries, if only for a few moments. People have a reason to laugh. In times like these I would not consider it stupid at all. And the prank we pulled today did not cause any injuries. No one was hurt, or even close to being hurt. What was so wrong about it then?" Although his voice had remained calm the anger he was feeling clearly showed in his eyes.

Lily thought about all that James had said and could not think of a rebuttal. All of his logic made perfect sense, as much as she hated to admit it. She could think of nothing to say back, but she figured that she should. As she opened her mouth to respond she finally realized how close they were. Only an inch or two apart, having had moved closer through out the entire argument. She was close enough to see the anger in his eyes, close enough to smell the smell of his soap. He was gazing down at her, and for the first time she realized how tall he was, she had to turn her head upward in order to look him fully in the eye.

Standing that close, Lily couldn't help but realize that all of her friends had been correct in saying that James was good looking. Even when mad he was still handsome. His hazel eyes now began to look confused. She had been standing there starring at him for over two minutes now, no response given, no words said. He opened his mouth as to speak again but something in Lily snapped.

She stood on her tip toes, put her arm around James' head and forced it closed to her face. Then she moved her own face up to his and their mouths met.

As soon as their lips met, Lily felt as though a bolt of electricity ran through her entire body. It was clear that she had surprised James because it took him a few seconds to respond, but when he did it was with utter delight. He wrapped his arms around her small waste and pulled her closer. Tingly sensations went down her spin, causing her to shiver a little. She ran her hands through James' untidy hair, messing it up even more, then clasped them around his neck and proceeded to kiss him harder.

Then after what seemed like hours but was in reality only a matter of seconds, the two separated, both short on breath and shocked at what had just occurred.

Lily took a few steps back and sank against the wall while James just stood in his spot.

"Wh-what was that?" James asked breathlessly. "Not that I didn't want it to happen but…"

Lily put her head on her knees and covered it with her arms. NO! NO NO NO NO!! She had just kissed James Potter. The boy that she loathed. The horrible, pig headed James Potter. NO! And to make it worse, she had liked it. No, more than liked it. It was better than any kiss she had ever had before. She had never once felt like that while kissing someone. And that scared her.

"Nothing." Lily said simply. She could never admit that she liked him. It was a mistake that was all. Clearly she had imagined that wonderful tingling that had happened.

"Nothing just happened. It was a mistake."

She turned on her heal and continued walking, intent on finishing the patrol as quickly as possible.

"What? NO! No that was not nothing Lily! That was something. A big something at that. I mean…you kissed me." James said jogging after her.

"No I didn't. You kissed me" Lie "it was nothing," another lie "and it will not be discussed again. Come on we have to finish our patrol."

"I…Lily I did not kiss you. Don't tell me that you didn't feel anything in that kiss."

"No I felt nothing what so ever" another lie "Just leave it."

"No I will not just leave it Lily! This is not something that can just be left!!"

"Yes it is. And stop calling me Lily! It's Evans to you. Let's go. I want to get this over with."

She marched on, not turning her back to see if James was still behind her. The two did not speak another word for the entire night. And when they arrived at the Fat Lady, they went their separate ways with not even a glance at the other.

**A/N:** Hum…so this turned out completely differently then I had expected it to. I was just planning on making them argue the entire time…but they just seemed to want to kiss. Every way I thought about it, they just insisted that it had to be done. I had also intended that it be much longer but it seemed good to stop at this length. The other stuff was not necessary. Anyways I hope you liked it! I think the next chapter will be this chapter but James' reaction, and his thoughts. Tell me if you like that idea! And REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!! Please! If you do I shall send you a nice yummy virtual cookie!


	9. Giving Up

**A/N**: So I know I said that this chapter would be the same as last but in James' point of view but as I was writing it I realized that it was kind of pointless. I men, I think, or at least I hope, that I made what James was feeling pretty clear in the last chapter. I am going to over lap this on with the last a bit, but I am not going to do the entire scene again, just the kiss. Sorry if you wanted the entire chapter, but I know some people did agree with me on this topic! Any ways, as usual thanks SO much to all of those who reviewed, favorited, or alerted my story. It means a lot! Those who reviewed are: x0xoTheRosesx0xo, ScarlettInkHeart94, ixamxsqee, hermioneraven, nightwing27, MkGrays, FarmQueen, Gin M. Weasley, ohhhsnappps, drummerxbaby, and fattoad. THANKS!!

**DISCLAIMER:** Alas, I am not the wonderful J.K. Rowling, if I was I would most likely be making you pay to read this.

Lily had been gazing at James for a few minutes when he finally decided that something must be wrong. Never before had see looked at him like that, as though she was truly looking at him, not at what she wanted to see. He was about to open his mouth to ask her what she was looking at when she did something that surprised him more then he could have imagined.

She kissed him.

The moment he felt her warm lips graze him, a euphoric blanket engulfed his entire body. He felt as though he was floating, never before had a kiss made him feel that good, had one given him that many emotions. Lily ran her small fingers through his hair and James had to suppress a shudder of complete delight.

But then it was over, he and Lily were stumbling apart, and she was looking as though she had just made the biggest mistake of her life.

"Wh-what was that? Not that I didn't want it to happen but…" James managed to ask.

"Nothing. Nothing just happened. It was a mistake."

With those few words James felt as though his life had just been ripped apart. Lily Evans had just kissed him, making him the happiest man alive, and with in the same minute she had broken his heart.

"What? NO! No that was not nothing Lily! That was something. A big something at that. I mean…you kissed me." James was desperate for Lily to admit that she had felt something, for him to know that he was not the only one that had felt the wonderful sensations run through out his body as they had kissed.

"No I didn't. You kissed me. It was nothing and it will not be discussed again. Come on we have to finish our patrol." Lily's voice was cruelly detached. James' heart was breaking even more.

"I…Lily I did not kiss you. Don't tell me that you didn't feel anything in that kiss."

"No I felt nothing what so ever. Just leave it."

"No I will not just leave it Lily! This is not something that can just be left!!!"

"Yes it is. And stop calling me Lily! It's Evans to you. Let's go. I want to get this over with."

James wanted to yell at her, to make her admit that she HAD felt something, that she DID have feelings for him. He opened his mouth to continue arguing, but she turned her back and started walking away.

There was nothing he could do to make her admit it, nothing he could do to make Lily love him before she was ready.

_But maybe_, James thought as the two started walking up their separate stair cases, headed for bed, _maybe she will never be ready. Maybe it will take to long. Maybe…maybe I should just give up. _

With that last thought James climbed in to bed and fell in to a restless sleep, full of dreams of a red headed girl laughing as she tour his heart out and left him to bleed to death on the floor.

"OHH PRONGSIE!!!! WAKEY WAKEY TIME!" Sirius jumped on James' bed, causing the boy to flop out of it and land on the cold wooden floor.

"PADFOOT!" James yelled before quickly grabbing a pillow and throwing it at Sirius.

"Prongs you have to get up…breakfast is almost over. If you sleep in much more you're going to be late to Potions. Old Sluggly won't be happy about that!" Sirius said simply before leaving the room. James quickly jumped off the ground and changed in to his school robes before sprinting down to the Great Hall to grab breakfast.

"Thanks so much for getting me up earlier guys." James muttered as he sank in to his seat next to Sirius in the Potions classroom seconds before being late.

"Hey mate, we tried!" Remus said "But I swear you sleep like a log!"

"Hello class!" Came an overly cheery voice from the front of the class room.

The Marauders attention turned to the rather fat man with a giant mustache from which the voice was coming. "Welcome back! I do hope that you all had a wonderful summer! Now! How about we just jump right on in to potions. No need for a silly lecture about how important N.E.W.T.s are. I am quite sure that you have gotten many of those already!" The jolly man gave a slight chuckle "Today's assignment is to make a sleeping potion. I know, this may seem elementary but you will find that the instructions I have given you call for entirely different ingredients. This potion is much stronger then the one you have made in previous years and if brewed wrong to could cause the drinker to sleep and never wake up! Now, begin!"

"Nice to see Slughorn hasn't been changed much by the war." Sirius said to James as the two collected their ingredients.

The hour passed in record time, and by the end of class all three of the Marauders (Peter had not gotten a high enough O.W.L to continue on with potions and therefore had a free period while the other three had potions) had concocted almost perfect potions. Only James' was slightly off, being more of a pale green with only a bit of blue color, then a pale turquoise.

The three friends met up with Peter, who was talking to what looked to be a Slytherin, although the three could not be sure, the boys approached but as soon as they neared the student walked briskly away, not showing his face or his robes for them to identify which house he belonged to.

"'Lo!" Peter said, a little too causally "Let's go to Care of Magical Creatures then shall we?" And he walked off toward the grounds, his little legs carrying him quickly.

The three other boys just shrugged and followed their odd friend down toward the grounds.

"Right-o!" Said Professor Kettleborn as the final group of people, a group of seventh year Hufflepuff's, arrived. "Today we will be looking at the Augurey. Can anyone type of animal this is? Pedin?"

Alice lowered her hand as she answered "an Augurey is a type of bird, sir. It has a low cry that people used to think foretold death, but in reality the bird cries when it is about to rain. It also only flies when it is raining, the rest of the time it remains in its nest."

"Very good Ms. Pedin. Now because of the fact that the Augurey is shy, I was not able to obtain one for you to look at directly, but I do have quite a few pictures. During this class I would like you to work on drawing a detailed diagram of this bird, and by next class I like it to be turned in along with a foot long essay about the habits of this bird." With a collective groan, the class set to work.

"This is rubbish. Who cares about a little bird?" James muttered as he began to draw the large wing span of the bird.

"An Augurey is a very important bird Potter! It is used for all sorts of things, like telling the weather. But of course you wouldn't care about that sort of thing would you? All that matters to you is your little world." Lily sneered, before turning back to her friends.

"So Sirius," James started turning to his friend, not even bothering to answer Lily "would you mind greatly passing me that picture over there? I need a more close up view of the wings."

Sirius passed James the picture, a bit shocked. James had never ignored Lily before; usually he would have some witty remark to throw back at her. But as he looked in his mates eyes, he saw that they were cold, blocked off.

The first half of the day passed quickly and when lunch rolled around James asked the other three Marauders to grab something to eat and meet him in the Room of Requirement, a room they had discovered by accident in their second year.

"So mate, what's so important that you are having us skip lunch to hear? And it had better be good...the chicken looked extra good today and I was only able to grab one leg." Sirius stated.

"I am giving up on Lily."

The three boys stared at James.

"What?" Peter squeaked out.

"I. Am. Giving. Up. On. Lily."

Sirius, Remus, and Peter would have thought he was kidding, but the look in his eye told them that he was serious.

"Um. Why mate? I mean, not that I object, it'll be nice to not hear you go on about her for once, but why the sudden change in heart?" Sirius asked, staring at his best friend, all food forgotten.

"I realized that she is a lost cause. I can tell that she likes me, don't give me that look Moony" Remus had been giving him a look that clearly said "no, she doesn't mate"

"I know she does. But she is not ready to admit it. And what if I keep waiting for her to be ready to face the fact that she likes me and I miss the one I am truly meant to be with? What if I spend all my time waiting on her and nothing ever comes of it? No, I need to just let it go. Move on. If she ever decides to admit she has feelings for me then maybe we can try something. But from now on I am not going to ask her out any more. I am not going to show off for her. I am going to go on dates with other girls. I have already missed some of the best dating years of my life waiting on one girl; I think it's time I should start putting my self out there for other girls."

"Prongs. What happened last night?" Remus asked, and as the question left his mouth he saw his friend wince, as though the words had caused him pain.

"Nothing. At least that is what Lily says. Nothing happened."

"Clearly something did happen. Something big and it clearly got to you because of this decision you are making. But I agree. I think that I will be good for you to put your self out there more. Maybe when Lily sees that you have options other then her, she will realize this liking of you, if it really exists." Remus said.

A hopeful look rose in James' eyes but was quickly cut off by his new, not caring look "Sure, maybe. But I don't care. I am forgetting about trying to get her admit it."

"Well then mate" Sirius said, clapping James on the back "I know just the perfect girl for you. A certain brown haired beauty from Ravenclaw named Rachel. Smart and pretty. I am sure that she would be willing to go out with you! Oh yes, my Prongsy is on the market, watch out ladies!" Sirius laughed, and the four best friends headed out of the room.

**A/N:** Another chapter done! An Augurey is actually a bird in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." So I take no credit for that bird either. Review to tell me how you like the chapter!


	10. Death Eaters

**A/N: **Thanks to all of those who reviewed, favorited, or added my story to alerts! It means so much to me! Those who reviewed are: Pochama, rachel :), karenwrites, MkGrays, x0xoTheRosesx0xo, PaCho de Nacho, ohhhsnappps, Gin M. Weasley, fattoad, and ScarlettInkHeart94.

**Disclaimer: **None of this is mine

The year wore on and things continually became more and more awkward between James and Lily. Their head duties were all done in silence, the two of them only speaking to each other when it was necessary.

Lily watched from the side lines as James flirted and kissed other girls. Every time he passed her in the hall with one of those bimbos wrapped around him she felt fury and jealously rise up in her. She had yet to adjust to James not putting all of his efforts towards her. As much as it unsettled her to admit it, she missed his flirting and his jokes. She even missed the things about him that used to annoy her more than anything like the way he ran his hand through his jet black hair, or even how he used to ask her out. Lily actually missed James Potter.

October rolled around and with it came the first Hogsmeade visit. All of the population of Hogwarts, with the exception of those bellow third year, headed toward the village laughing and talking.

Lily walked with Abbie as they headed down to Hogsmeade. Alice had gone with her boyfriend, Frank, and Kathleen went with her boy of the week, Dylan. The two girls were laughing and talking about all sorts of things when they finally reached the village.

"Where do you want to go first?" Asked Lily, as she gazed around at all the lit up windows that help all sorts of things.

"Ohhh-Lets go to Honeydukes!" Abbie squealed "I need to stock up on chocolate frogs!"

"Ok! I want another sugar quill now that we are on the topic of sweets!"

The two best friends skipped off toward the shop. Upon arrival the shoved their way through the door and pushed through the pack of Hogwarts students to get the sweets they wanted. Abbie ended up getting a box of Cockroach Clusters, which she swore were tasty as anything despite their name, as well as her chocolate frogs. Lily left with two sugar quills and a few licorice wands.

"Where shall we go next?" Wondered Abbie as they strolled down the street of Hogsmeade.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks. I really want a cup of Butterbeer."

The Three Broomsticks was even busier then Honeydukes had been. Almost every table was taken but the girls managed to find one in the corner and plopped down in to the seats.

"I'll go get us drinks." Abbie hopped up from the table and made her way through the swarm of students to the bar. Lily watched her get the bar tenders attention and order two drinks, pay and pick up the drinks and expertly maneuver her way back to their table.

"Two butterbeers!" She said as she placed the drinks of the table.

The two girls each took a rather large drink and grinned as the warmth of the drink spread over their bodies.

The door to the Three Broomsticks opened and James Potter walked through the door with a blond Hufflepuff from 6th year hanging from his hand. He gazed around the pub and sought out an empty table. He found one and lead the girl to it and, after whispering something in her ear that made her giggle, headed off toward the bar to order their drinks.

Lily's green eyes followed him through out this entire routine and back to his table. He placed the two drinks in front of his self and the girl, but they never got around to much drinking. As soon as James butt his the chair the blond girl jumped in to his lap and proceeded to try and suck his face off with her lips. James didn't really respond, other than to wrap his arms around the girl, but he did not kiss her back nearly as much as she was kissing him.

Watching this scene, Lily's smile slipped off her face and she was no longer in the happy, light mood she had been in that morning.

She turned to Abbie who was watching her with an odd look on her face.

"Look Abbie, I'm sorry but I'm just not feeling that well anymore. Maybe I had too much candy" but they both knew that all of the candy she had bought was still safely stored in the bag lying at her feet "I think I'm going to head back up to the castle."

"Ok…do you want me to come with you?"

"Nah. You stay here, I'm sure you will be able to find someone to hang out with." And with a small hug and an even smaller wave Lily exited the pub and made her was back to Hogwarts.

* * *

James watched Lily leave over the shoulder of the girl sitting in his lap. Kristin? Was that he name? He couldn't remember. The girl had latched on to him as he and the Marauders headed toward the village and just never let go. He didn't mind though, she kept his mind off of a certain fiery red headed girl. But now that he had seen her, there was no way that he was going to be able to get her off his mind. Great.

Kristin continued kissing him. It was clear to him that she as not very experienced in this area; he got no enjoyment out of this kiss. His mind drifted off to the kiss that he had shared with Lily. Now that kiss he had gotten a lot of enjoyment out of.

"Jamieeeee" Kristin's voice whined. "Jamie why aren't you paying attention to me?"

"Sorry Kristin." James mumbled and was relieved when the girl didn't yell at him that her name was not Kristin, he had actually remembered it. He leaned and placed a quick peck on her lips. "There."

Kristin pouted "But Jamie! That wasn't a good enough kiss!" And she leaned in to him and placed her lips on his and proceeded to devour him with wet slobbery dog like kisses.

James was about to push her off his lap so that he could catch his breath when a scream rang out from the street out side of the pubs door.

All heads turned to look in the direction that the scream could be heard coming from and were shocked to see Alice running toward the Three Broomsticks almost crying.

"Death Eaters!" She screamed as she opened the door, "F-F-Frank and I were sitting out side when two of them came up to us. He…He told me to run and then pulled out his wand to take them on his own. I-I don't know what happened…I just ran. DEATH EATERS!" Alice crumbled to the floor and James saw Abbie run from somewhere in the back of the store to gather the small girl up in to her arms in a tight hug.

There was no time to think, James just pulled his wand out of his right pocket and a small mirror out of his left. Ignoring the loud "OUF!" of Kristin falling to the floor from his lap as he stood he yelled "PADFOOT!" in to the mirror. Shortly Sirius's face appeared in the mirror grinning at James.

"What's up Prongs? I'm kind of in the middle of something here" A girly giggle could be heard from the background.

"Padfoot. Death Eaters. Here. Find Moony and Wormtail. Meet me out side of the Three Broomsticks as soon as you can."

The grin vanished off of Sirius's face.

"James…James what are you planning on doing?"

"Just get Moony and Wormtail please."

Sirius nodded and quickly vanished from the mirror.

Screams could be heard from out side the Three Broomsticks and most of the students were trying to get as far away from the windows and doors as possible. James pushed his way through the crowd and opened the door.

"Potter! What do you think you are doing? Do you have a death wish?" A boy from seventh year Ravenclaw yelled at him.

James just gazed back at him, shook his head and walked out the door.

A few seconds after he stepped out, his wand held out in front of him, Sirius ran up to him with Remus in tow.

"I couldn't find Wormtail mate, maybe he has already headed back to the castle?"

"Maybe…listen. We need to help. Most of these people are panicking. We have to fight."

The other two boys nodded their heads in agreement. The three boys jumped in to the throng of wizards and witches who were dueling and started firing spells every which way.

"Well, well, well if it isn't wittle bitty Potter" A masked person stepped up to duel against James and he recognized the voice right away.

"Bellatrix" he said simple before sending a stupefy spell her way.

"AWWW! Stupefy! What a bitty baby hex Potter. Are you too scared to use big kid hexes now?" She laughed as she sent a purple light his way, he dodged it and quickly fired another jet of red light back at her.

"Come on Jamisey poo. I know you can do better then that. Don't be shy. Bellatrix isn't scared of you."

James continued to fire spells at her and she either blocked or dodged each one.

"Come now Jamesy…I am growing tired of this. Here this should make it a little more interesting. CRUCIO!"

James didn't have enough time to dodge the spell; he took it full force in to his chest. Right away he fell to the ground thrashing and screaming in complete and utter pain. Pain beyond what he believed pain could be, ever inch of his skin was on fire, being pierced by thousands of needles. His screams drowned out the rest of the fighting. Remus and Sirius ran towards him and quickly fired spells of their own at Bella. She dodged both of them but lost concentration while doing so and James was freed of the pain.

He lay curled up on the ground, shaking with pain for a few seconds before he slowly stood up and jumped back in to the dueling. Every part of his ached but he had to continue fighting.

"Thanks" he managed to yell to his two best friends and he rejoined them in fighting Bella.

It was clear that Bella was having difficulty holding all three of them, just barely avoiding their spells and hardly able to send one back their way. Slowly she began to back up and soon was lost in the crowd of duelers.

"Ug! Where did she go? BELLATRIX!! YOU COWARD COME OUT AND FIGHT!!" James screamed.

Both Sirius and Remus had already moved on to other Death Eaters surrounding them. James continued to look at the place where Bella had disappeared in to, shaking with fury and left over pain from the torture he had just gone through. Another Death Eater stepped out of the space that Bella had disappeared to and engaged James in a duel.

The two fought for a while before James was finally able to take his opponent down. As soon as the Death Eater fell another took his place.

This Death Eater was much harder to duel with then the one had been before. It was clear that he was much stronger. James as sending a curse at him when he heard Sirius yell from some where behind him. "REMUS!!! REMUS!"

James quickly turned to see his Remus lying on the ground, unconscious.

"YOU BLOODY BASTARD!" Sirius screamed at the Death eater who must have sent the curse. He attacked him with such ferocity that the Death Eater became scared and ran away, disappearing into the crowd. As soon as the Death Eater disappeared Sirius turned to Remus on the ground and began checking for a pulse. It was then that he looked up and saw James staring and the two of them.

James saw Sirius notice him watching and yelled to him "What happened?"

Sirius's eyes went wide with complete terror "Behind you!!" he screamed at him.

James' own eyes went wide as he remembered the Death Eater he had been dueling, he had completely forgotten about him when he heard Sirius yell. James quickly spun around. The man was much closer now and James could see his cold black eyes through the holes in his mask.

As if in slow motion the man lifted his wand and pointed it at James. Bright yellow light shot at James from the Death Eaters wand. James saw the spell hurtling towards him but he could not move in time. He felt rather then saw it make contact with his body. Pain ripped through his body and he dropped to the ground. He felt wet sticky blood begin to spill from his head as it struck the ground.

"JAMES!" He heard Sirius scream as he lay still on the ground, people fighting and running about all around him. He felt hands grip at his, heard other people other then Sirius calling his name. He tried to respond but he had no control over his body, or voice. Slowly he fell in to unconscious. The blackness embraced him and his eyes slowly fell shut, blocking out all that was happening around him.

**A/N: **I hope that all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving had a wonderful one! And YAY! The Tales of Beedle the Bard came out today! I already have my copy! As always please review!!


	11. Proven Right

**A/N:** AHH!! I know, I know. I am EVIL! Sorry it has been so long. I have no excuses other then school. It's been stressful and then we got let out for break and I spent most of it just being lazy, and then school started again. I am so sorry. But here's your update! Thanks to all those who reviewed, alerted or favorited me. Those who reviewed are: Saffygirl, tic tac toe 03, MkGrays, ScarlettInkHeart94, appleeater123, crystal-darkness-331, PaCho de Nacho, Gin M. Weasley, ixamxsquee, and fattoad. Thanks again!

**DISCLAIMER:** My last name is not Rowling and my first two initials are not J.K. so clearly I don't own any of this.

Lily was sitting curled up in her favorite arm chair, the big fluffy one closest to the fire, when Alice and Abigail came through the portrait hole. The two girls scanned the common room and when their eyes rested on Lily, they ran right over to her.

"Looks like you got out of Hogsmeade just in time Lils." Abbie mumbled as she sank on to the floor at her friend's feet.

"What do you mean by that?" Lily asked, as Alice took a seat in the arm chair across from hers. Looking closely Lily could tell that her friends were spooked by something, and upon glancing down at her watch she realized that it was much earlier then the Hogsmeade visitors usually came back.

"You mean you haven't heard?" Alice asked, shock in her voice "I would have thought you, being Head Girl and all, would have been told already."

"What should I have already been told?" Lily's pulse was racing now. As her gaze drifted around the common room she noticed that almost all those who had gone to Hogsmeade were back, only a few missing, and every one of them was looking scared. Something bad must have happened.

"Well," stated Abbie "Just after you left Death Eaters attacked Hogsmeade. Alice ran in to the Three Broomsticks to warn everyone but the attack was already huge. I mean there must have been fifty Death Eaters there. It was horrible Lils; everyone was screaming and running every where. And some students were trying to help others get out and others were fighting. Spells were every where. And Lily James, Sirius, and Remus went to fight." Lily, who had been too surprised to react to the attack, reacted to that statement. A look of total shock, and some fear and maybe even anger, was on her face.

"What did they do?"

"Lily, they are the reason most of the Hogwarts students got out before they got hurt. As soon as Alice said the word 'Death Eaters' James jumped up, called Sirius though this weird mirror thing, and went running out side. Remus came with Sirius and the three of them dove right in to the fight. They were really the first to react. Other then Frank of course, who had been with Alice to witness their arrival. I have never seen anyone duel that well before. Really, it was amazing."

"Well, where are the heroes? Why aren't they here soaking up the attention?" Lily couldn't help it. It was in her nature to always find the worst out of something good that Potter had done.

"Seriously Lily, I thought you had gotten over your stupid grudge." Alice said some what exasperatedly. "They are in the hospital wing."

"What?" Terror ran through Lily's veins.

"Yeah, Remus went down and got really hurt. And James got distracted when he saw him and this huge Death Eater attacked him from behind. They don't even know what kind of curse it was. Madam Pomfrey thinks that Remus will wake up tomorrow sometime but she's not so sure about James."

Lily's heat almost stopped. James was hurt, badly. She tried to convince her self that she shouldn't care as much as she did, she had no reason to, they were barely even civil to each other. But her mind just kept repeating "Not James, Not James…" She kept thinking about those few days when they had been on good terms, when there had been minimal fighting, and the kiss. She had never felt those feelings in a kiss before.

"James…is in the Hospital Wing?" Lily managed to force out. Then she remembered something else Abbie had said awhile ago "Wait…you said Frank was fighting too. Where is he?"

Tears came to Alice's eyes. "They…they don't know. He hasn't returned from Hogsmeade yet, even though the attack ended about a half an hour ago."

At that moment Kathleen came running in, her hair all messed up and her lips considerably redder most likely from a make out session with her date.

"I just herd what happened." She gasped "Dylan and I had come back to the castle early to…have some alone time together and when we were…er…done we heard. A Death Eater attack! How could this happen? Doesn't Hogsmeade have loads of protection around it? How could Dumbledore have not seen this coming?"

"I don't know" Said Lily "I am sure there is tons of protection surrounding it, but that doesn't make it unable to access. I mean, people have to get there it's not just a place for Hogwarts students."

Kathleen shook her head. "I still can't believe it happened. Oh and Alice" she said turning to the black haired girl who was still holding back tears "I just saw Frank."

"WHAT!" Alice screamed, causing much of the common room to look at her, "Sorry, what?" She said it more quietly this time.

"Yeah, they were brining him in on a stretcher when I was leaving the Great Hall, he didn't look that good. I thought you knew…"

Alice jumped from her chair and ran out of the common room, presumably headed toward the Hospital Wing.

"We should head that way too" Said Abbie "Frank is our friend too. Plus the Marauders are there. No matter how you pretend to feel about them" she said upon seeing the looks Lily and Kathleen were sending her way "I know you both want to know if they are ok."

With that the three girls made their way to the Hospital Wing.

The Hospital Wing was uncharacteristically silent, only the sounds of Madam Pomfrey scurrying about tending to her patients could be heard. As the three best friends entered they found Alice sitting the bed closest to the door holding the hand of an unconscious Frank Longbottom, who was looking worse for the wear.

"She…she says he will be ok." Alice said with out looking up at her friends, her eyes glued to her boyfriends face, "He should wake up soon." Alice began crying out of relief.

Abbie, Kathleen and Lily quickly hurried over to their friend and hugged her.

Lily looked around the rest of the hospital wing many of the beds were filled with people who looked to be injured, but not greatly, but one toward the back of the room had the curtains closed around it, showing that the person in that bed was not doing well. Sirius was in one near the back as well, sitting up and staring at the curtains surrounding the bed next to his, Remus was laying asleep in the one of the other side of Sirius. Lily got up to go over to the boy sitting up.

"Sirius." She said simply as she approached.

His face turned to look at her and she could see the surprise in his eyes.

"What are you doing here? Come to check to make sure your Head Boy isn't dead? Or come to yell at him for doing something, as you would call it, 'stupid.'" The accusation in his voice surprised Lily; usually his voice was full of humor.

"I…no! I wanted to see if he was ok."

"Well, he's not, alright? He's hurt, badly and for all I know he might not get better. And I couldn't do anything to help him." Sirius ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "He went down and I couldn't do anything to stop it, I was too late in warning him. And I couldn't even hurt the bastard that did this to him because he ran as soon as James hit the ground. And the man who got Remus got away too."

Lily was surprised, Sirius never showed this much weakness, clearly his two best friends getting hurt had affected him greatly. He blamed himself for their injuries.

"Look, Sirius, it's not like if you hurt the Death Eaters who hurt them it would have made anything better. You still would have had two hurt friends. None of this is your fault."

"Evans, I don't know what your game is."

"My game? I don't know what you are talking about, I just came to see how my co-head was doing and I thought you might need someone to comfort you. If that's a game then…"

"Not that." Sirius interrupted, "Your game with James."

Lily had no response; she just stood staring at Sirius.

"How can you be so civil to me when I am ten times worse at pranking then he ever was. I have had more girl friends then he ever has. And yet you tell him he is an arrogant pig every time you see him. You scream and yell and say the exact words that you know will cut him the deepest when ever you can. You treat him like trash when he likes you, really, really likes you. And you refuse to give him the time of day. You know nothing about him and yet you judge him. That's your game."

"That is not true! I have given him a chance and he ruined it by the stupid prank! He was being immature as usually. It just proved me right, that he will never change." Lily could not believe she was having this conversation, for what felt like the 100th time, in a Hospital Wing with the boy they were arguing about laying in the bed next to them, possibly dying.

"You wanted to be proved right." Sirius said it simply, as though it was a fact "You had decided to give him a chance but then you realized that if he did turn out good then you would have no more reason to hate him. You looked for something bad that he did, even something minuscule, and turned it in to something big. That prank? Nothing was bad about it. No one got hurt, no one was insulted, it was just fun. People need cheering up, especially in times like these."

Lily had never seen Sirius so, well, serious. It was clear to her that he was trying to make a point.

"I was not looking to be proved right. I just…was! That prank may have not hurt anyone but who's to say the next on won't?"

"There's not going to be a next on. James said he was never going to do a prank again. You don't know him at all Evans. He actually is a good guy; you just see the bad in him. You need to get off you high horse. He is hurting beyond belief. I don't know what happened that night a few months ago but he came back from that patrol and he hasn't been the same since. He almost never laughs any more and all he thinks about is school. But when we pass you in that hall he pretends to be all happy-go-lucky. I don't know what you did to him, but you really hurt him. You better not be planning on doing that again. He's my best friend; he doesn't deserve to be treated like that."

"I…never actually plan on hurting him." Lily said simply, and then turned to leave.

"You better not." Sirius said to her retreating form.

The next day of classes was subdued. The Hogsmeade attack has shaken the entire school greatly, and the fact that the Head Boy was in the Hospital Wing greatly hurt did nothing to help the students feel safe.

Through out the entire day Lily thought about the conversation she had had with Sirius the day before. "You wanted to be proven right…" Could that be true? Did she really just look for the first small thing James did wrong and then blow up at him about it? The more she thought about it, the more she realized that it was true. And then she had kissed him and proceeded to tell him that it meant nothing to her. She had hurt James Potter.

She made a promise to her self, the next time she went to the hospital wing and none of the Marauders were there, or awake, she would go talk to James. It didn't matter if he was better or not, or if she was even out of his a coma like state. She had read some where that people in a coma could still hear what those around them said; maybe if she apologized he would hear.

* * *

James was laying flat on his back with darkness surrounding him on all sides. His entire body felt heavy and he was so tired. He could hear people around him, Sirius, Remus and Peter, Madam Pomfrey, and Dumbledore even. Their voices where all asking him to wake up, they needed him to wake up. But James was so sleepy and he couldn't feel anything. He knew if he woke up he would feel the pain. He didn't want pain. So he slept. Fading in to the darkness, letting it enwrap him.

He felt small, cool hands on his forehead. "Oh James." A voice muttered from somewhere out of the darkness_. I know that voice_, James thought_, but I can't place it._

"I am so sorry. So, so, so, sorry." Such a pretty voice, but it sounds sad. The pretty voice shouldn't sound sad, he should make it happy. He tried to claw his was out of the darkness, but when he was almost out the tiredness came back.

_The voice can wait a little_; James thought sleepily, _I will just sleep for a few more minutes._ As he began to let the darkness cover him once more he could have sworn he felt a pair of soft lips press themselves to his forehead. He smiled and then drifted back to the darkness.

**A/N:** So did ya like it?? I know I didn't have James get better in this one, but at least Lily is beginning to realize that she likes him. They may be getting together soon! *Hint Hint* Review please! Reviews make me feel all warm and cozy inside, and when I am all warm and cozy I write faster!


	12. Authors Note! READ CONTAINS TEASER

Okay, so I know, I've been gone for FOREVER. And I promised last time that I would update soon...but I do have my reasons.

Ug....I swore that I would never do one of these but ... here I am. Dang me. Any ways...So my computer got sick. For a long time. And then she got better. And then she died. So I was with out a computer for quite some time. Then I got a new one, but as soon as I got the new one, my internet broke. And it stayed broken for 3 weeks. Then it got fixed...for three days...then it broke again. For a month. Then it got fixed. Then it broke for like two weeks. And if JUST go fixed again...so I'M SORRY!

I won't update this week or next, I need to catch up on writing. Plus, it's finals week next week (GO ALMOST SUMMER!!!). But an actual update IS coming. I'm sooooo soooo sooo soooo sooo sorry about the wait. Seriously, it's been super annoying for me too.

Anyways, if you want to hate me...go ahead. I understand! But I am sorry!!

Here's a teaser from the next chapter...just to show you that I am actually doing something.

"James" Lily's voice came out breathy and quite "you're awake." Then she was running toward his bed, unable to control herself, unable to stop herself from doing what she had been longing to do since her realization. She was going to kiss James Potter.

:D :D :D :D


	13. Waking Up

A/N: I suck. No excuses this time…I just lost track of time. Anyways, back to the story. We left off with Lily apologizing to James for hurting him and always trying to find faults in him. The beginning of this is the apology from her point of view. It takes place 11 days after James was attacked and he still hasn't woken up!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything…the wonderful world of Harry Potter and everything in it belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Lily sat by James' hospital wing bed looking at the boy whom she had tried to avoid her feelings for for all these years and thought back on the conversation she had had with Sirius a few days previously. She still felt terrible about how she had treated James before his accident and how it had taken her so long to realize her feelings for him. Every time she had tried to come and be alone with James, to apologize to him, someone was already there with him. Usually it was one of his friends but a few times it was that girl he had been with in Hogsmeade, Kristin. Did James actually like the girl? Lily wondered. Had he actually moved on from Lily? She remembered that he hadn't seemed that enthusiastic about kissing Kristin on their date in the Three Broomsticks. The girl had basically thrown herself on James and started snogging him senseless, but he hadn't really done much to respond. Maybe Lily still had a chance.

Bringing her mind back to the present, Lily returned her gaze to James. Looking at him she realized how handsome he really was, his dark, messy hair falling in his face and over his eyes looking like he had just gotten off a broom stick. Lily slowly used her hand to move the hair from over his eyes, as though she could actually see the wonderful hazel depths that lay beneath those eye lids

"Oh James" she muttered under her breath.

No response. Seeing James there, not moving, with no life at all in him was one of the most disturbing things Lily had ever experienced. James Potter was never still for long, but it had been 11 days since he last moved.

"I am so sorry. So, so, so, sorry."

The raven haired boy remained still. Laughter sounded from just outside of the Hospital Wing door, causing Lily to jump. Quickly, almost as though she didn't even think of doing it, Lily brushed her lips against James' forehead to say goodbye. Her actions surprised even her, but she could not bring herself to regret them. For a moment, just before she turned to duck out of the Hospital Wing and avoid the next round of visitors for James, she could swear that she saw him smile.

* * *

The day after Lily's apology to James found the hospital wing in a much different atmosphere.

"I'm bored, why hasn't James woken up yet? He always figures out the stuff to do."

"You heard Madam Pomfrey Padfoot, 'James Potter will not be awake anytime soon! Now leave me alone so that I can do my work you annoying boys!'"

"She didn't mean that! Especially the part about us being annoying, she loves us! Why without us, she would never have any work!!"

"Sirius…"

"Oh, just shut it Wormtail. I know he won't wake up soon, but a bloke can hope."

Remus observed his two friends. Not having James with them was really taking a toll on everyone. James was usually the one who made sure that Sirius was nice to Peter, he was the one who gave them ideas on what to do, the one who amused them when they were bored. Although none of them would admit it, they all missed him.

Sirius sighed and ran his hand through his black hair, he watched a bug fly around the ceiling and was reminded of the times when James used to carry that stupid old snitch everywhere with him, continually releasing and catching it whenever Lily was around. He returned his eyes back to his best mate.

"Hey!!"

Remus jumped at his friend's sudden outburst.

"What is it Padfoot?"

"I swear to Merlin, Prongs just moved." Sirius was jumping in his seat, acting as a dog does when he's about to get a treat.

"Sirius…Wormtail just went though this with you…"

"I know, I know, he's not supposed to wake up anytime soon, I'm just telling you what I saw!"

"Look, Padfoot, we all wish he were awake too but it's not going to happen."

"LOOK, he just moved again!! Did you see his hand, it twitched!! He hasn't moved in days, that has to be a good sign right? Maybe he's going to wake up soon!"

Remus looked at his friend, and sighed. Sirius was starting to imagine things; he must really be poorly off. He moved his eyes from his black haired friend, to his raven haired friend lying on the bed. What he saw shocked him.

"Bloody hell. Padfoot, his eye lids just fluttered!"

Peter jumped up from his seat and scurried over to James' bed.

"Come on, mate!" Sirius said hovering near James' head "Wake up, just open your eyes…"

"Why the hell are you so close to me?" A weak voice uttered from the bed ridden boy.

"JAMES!!!" All three boys yelled at once.

"What in Merlin's name is going on out here? This boy needs to get better; he won't be awakening for a few days at the least, why do you insist on coming in!!" The nurse looked at James and her surprise registered on her face.

"Mr. Potter, you're awake."

"So it would seem" James muttered, still slightly confused as to where he was and what his friends were all doing surrounding his bed. "Did I fall off my broom during Quidditch again?"

"Prongs, mate, you can't remember what happened?" Remus looked in to his friends eyes.

"I…maybe? Was I in Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah mate! You were with that Kristin girl, remember her that hot Hufflepuff, and Death Eaters attacked the village. Us, being the super cool heroes that we are" everyone in the room rolled their eyes at this statement "went out to fight them. Remus went down and you got distracted and one of the bastards hit you with a pretty nasty curse. You've been here for 12 days, it's October 15."

James' eyes widened, 12 days? What had he missed, he must have loads of work to make up, Oh, Lily was going to kill him for missing so many Head meetings and rounds.

"Shit. How could I have been out for that long?"

"It was one dark curse, Mr. Potter" Madam Pomfrey was scuttling about James' bed, handing him potions to drink and checking to make sure everything was tip-top with her patient. "I must say, you've recovered very well, and in the past day or two as well. Can you remember anything from your coma?"

James thought back. "No, not really. Vaguely I remember people being around me, but that's it."

"Ah, well, seeing as nothing is currently horribly wrong and you have taken all of your potions, I will leave you to chat with your friends. But mind you" Madam Pomfrey turned to the three other boys "You must leave soon, Mr. Potter needs his rest."

"Awww, come on Poppy, James has been sleeping for 12 days, he can spare a few moments of more sleep to spend it with us."

Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes and walked to her office, but the boys could see there was a hint of a smile on her face.

"So, Prongsey boy, how ya feeling mate??"

"Like I was run over by a heard of Hippogriffs." James groaned "So, what have I missed?"

"Not much, mostly just people worrying about their dear old head boy. The full moon's a few nights away."

"Bloody hell, I better be out by then."

Remus smiled weakly "It's alright if you aren't. I'm sure I'll be fine alone for one month." He suppressed a wince with the thought.

"Don't be silly, Remmy, Wormtail and I'll still come! And James'll be outta here in no time!"

Remus smiled and watched his friends as they continued talking, he was lucky to have friends as great as these. Finally, after about an hour of conversation, James fell asleep and the three other Marauders took their leave, only after being shooed out by a huffy nurse.

* * *

News quickly spread around the castle that James Potter had finally woken up. People flocked to see him in the hospital wing, most of who weren't allowed in by the greatly annoyed nurse ("HE NEEDS HIS REST!").

Lily was sitting in the comfortable chairs in front of the Gryffindor fire when she heard the news that James had awoken. She couldn't suppress her happiness at the news, but this happiness was quickly followed by worry. What would she say to him if she went to see him? Had he heard anything that she had said to him while he was in a coma? Did he remember any of it? Lily decided it was best just to find out and get it over with quickly. She stood up and made her way to the portrait hole, and to the hospital wing.

Lily managed to get past all of the would be visitors by pulling her Head Girl ranking, claiming that she had to talk with the Head Boy about "school business". She walked into the wing to find James surrounded by his friends, all of whom were looking a little annoyed. James himself was looking at something just out of Lily's seeing rang with a rather puzzled look on his face. Seeing him there awake and, seemingly, fine made Lily's heart leap with joy. She was having trouble controlling all the feelings that were taking place inside her, and, after thinking about it, decided that she didn't want to control them.

"James" Lily's voice came out breathy and quite "you're awake." Then she was running toward his bed, unable to control herself, unable to stop herself from doing what she had been longing to do since her realization. She was going to kiss James Potter.

James looked toward her upon hearing those words, surprised to see the fiery red head running toward him, with a happy look on her face, as though she had never hated him. His shock could be seen on his face, what had happened to Lily while he had been asleep?

Lily reached his bed within seconds, and was about to approach James when she finally realized who the figure that James had been looking at earlier was. Kristin.

"Hello Lily. Why isn't that kind of you to visit your partner? My little Jamesey Poo probably appreciates that. Don't you Jamesy??" Kristin grabbed his hand.

James looked at their hands clasped, still with a confused look on his face.

"Your Jamesey Poo?" Lily questioned.

"Of course, Lily!" Kristin was grinning oddly "Jamesy and I were on a date before, so clearly that makes us a couple."

Lily was shocked, were they really a couple? She felt stupid having barged in, just expecting that James would want her like he always had before.

"Oh, right. I'm so happy for the two of you."

James looked a little angry at Lily's words, what couldn't the girl for once just come out with what she was thinking? The truth, not what she thought people wanted to hear.

"So, Lily, what brings you here?" James managed to get out, removing his hand from Kristin's grip and scooting as far away from her as possible.

"Oh, well, I had just heard that you were awake, so I decided to come and make sure you were really okay. Head reasons and all."

"Right, head reasons. Well, I'm fine. Clearly."

"Clearly. So, um, I hope you get out of here soon."

"Yeah…me too."

"Right then. Bye."

"Bye."

The Marauders had observed this conversation with keen interest, to them it seemed like Lily had come to do more than just make sure he was ok. It was clear that she was going to do or say something important but Kristin had ruined the moment.

"Toodles Lily!" Kristin said waving her hand at Lily as the green eyed girl started for the door.

Lily turned back and waved to Kristin with a fake smile on her face before turning and almost running to the door, trying to hold in the tears she had been fighting for the past few moments.

As soon as the doors to the hospital wing closed, Kristin turned to James.

"Ug, thank god she's gone! What a loser right?"

"Kristin, I think you have the wrong idea about us."

"Wh-what do you mean Jamesy?!"

"We were never dating; it was just a onetime thing. I didn't even ask you out, you just kind of clung on to me and I just went along with it."

"I-I don't understand. I thought what we had was special. I thought you were special!" Kristin started to cry uncontrollably.

"Kristin, dearest" Sirius started "Dean Hughes told me that's exactly what you said to him when you two broke up last year."

"Well, so what?! That's what I thought!" The girl, who had been sobbing earlier, had gone defensive with not a tear on her face. "I can't help it if the two situations are similar."

"Kristin, you never liked James. You liked his popularity. So do us all a favor and get out before you embarrass yourself more" Remus stated the facts simply. Those words coming from anyone else would have seemed rude, but coming from Remus they simply seem true.

Kristin sniffled a few times and stared at James, before realizing that he wasn't going to cave.

"UG! Fine, I can see when my time is being wasted." She flipped her hair behind her shoulder "You weren't that great of a boyfriend, really. You always seemed to be thinking about someone else!" With those words she spun on her heal and sauntered out the door.

"Well, I, for one, am glad you got rid of her!" Sirius said, before the girl was even out of the room.

"As am I mate, as am I." James agreed. "Hey, what happened with Lily while I was out of it? Before she couldn't even talk to me, but now…"

"Ohhh, nothing Prongs. She and I just had a little chat!"

"Sirius, if you hurt her, I swear…"

"No worries! She wasn't hurt! Let's just say, I helped her come to a realization."

James decided to leave it at that, realizing that he most likely never would find out what exactly Sirius had said to Lily. He thought back to what Kristin had just said "you always seemed to be thinking about someone else", was he still that obvious in his liking of Lily? No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't push away his feelings for her. Sighing, James resigned himself to a life of chasing after the girl of his dreams.

* * *

Lily couldn't believe what a fool she had made of herself, running in like that, thinking that everything was good, that she and James could be together. She wandered around the halls aimlessly for what felt like hours before she came in contact with anyone. That anyone, unfortunately for her, turned out to be Sirius Black.

"'Lo Evans!"

"What do you want Black? Come to yell at me more? Well don't waste your breath, I know I was wrong. And I wish that I could take it all back, but I can't! And now I've lost my chance with James, he no longer likes me. So I'll just leave you all alone from now on."

"Silly, silly Lily flower. You haven't lost your chance. In fact, I bet if you were to go see him right now, I don't think he would turn you down."

Lily stared after the retreating form of James' best friend. Was he telling the truth? There was only one way to find out. Lily turned on her heal and started to slowly make her way back to the hospital wing, this time determined to do what she had wanted to do the last time.

* * *

A/N: Cliffie…kind of. Any ways, this is my longest chapter yet. I hope you liked it! REVIEW PLEASE! :D:D:D


	14. Hospital Wing Confessions

**DISCLAIMER**: My first name does not start with a "J" and my middle name doesn't start with a "K" and my last name, I'm sad to say, is not "Rowling". What does all of this mean, you may ask, well, it means that I own none of the characters, places, spells, things, ect, mentioned in this story.

* * *

The walk to the hospital wing seemed to take Lily longer than usual. Or maybe she was making it last longer, taking each step slowly, thinking about what she was going to say to James.

What could one say to the boy she had pretended to hate for years, the boy who she had hurt a hundred times over, and the boy who, she now realized, she had really liked all along? She couldn't just walk in there and say "Hey! I like you now…let's make out!" James would stare at her like she was insane. She needed to think out what she would say.

After what felt like hours of walking, Lily found herself staring at the large doors that led to the Hospital Wing. The crowd around the doors had since dispersed, most likely the work of Madam Pomfrey. _Well, here goes nothing _Lily thought, and swung the doors open.

James quickly looked toward the doors when he heard them swing open hoping that it wasn't Kristin back to annoy him. Instead of the annoying sixth year, James was greeted with a much more welcome sight: His Lily.

_No, not your Lily. _James scolded himself, _she's not yours. Get over it…she probably just has to talk about head stuff._

_Then why didn't she talk to you about head stuff earlier, when she first came in here? _Part of him argued.

_Well, because, everyone else was here. Besides, Kristin was being annoying. No one can talk about anything other than her when she is around. _Logical James argued back.

_What if it's not head stuff? What if she just wants to spend time with you? _Dreamer James almost squealed.

_Are you daft James? This is LILY. No way that's happening. _

Lily had reached James' bed by now and he realized how silly he must look, sure that his inner argument was reflected on his face.

"Hello James." Lily said quietly, seating herself on the chair that Sirius had previously resided.

"Hello." James said, still wondering what she was doing there.

"Look, I think I need to talk to you."

"Ok…then talk."

"Well, it's not that simple. I…I can't figure out how to say what I want to say." Lily's face was slowly turning a light shad of pink.

"It's not that complicated, just use words" James joked, trying to guess whether or not this blush was a good thing.

Lily let out a forced laugh. "If only it was so simple."

Lily started muttering things under her breath, as though she was practicing what to say.

_Told you it wasn't head stuff! _Dreamer James chanted _No way does head stuff take that long to think of! _

Logical James had to agree. But was she trying to tell him something good, or something horrible. Oh god, she hadn't gotten a boyfriend while he was out, had she? NO! Surely his mates would have told him if that's what happened. And why would she feel the need to tell him if that had happened?

Lily still looked greatly confused.

"Look, Lily, you don't have to tell me….whatever it is that you want to tell me. Honestly, if it's easier for you not to say it it's fine." James was trying to be sympathetic, but he really just wanted to yell "SPIT IT OUT WOMAN!"

"No, no, I have to say it. Okay, I guess the best place to start in the beginning."

"I always think so."

"So we met seven years ago and I thought you were so cute. I was eleven years old and innocent. Completely new to this magical world and you were this boy who already knew everything about everything. You could already do spells and ride a broom and hardly even needed to study at all. I, on the other hand, had trouble with everything"

"That's so not true-"

"No, just let me talk." Lily stood up quickly, and moved closer to his bed, beginning to fiddle with the bed sheets, as though she needed to occupy her hands with something for a distraction from what she was saying. "I did. I had to try so hard, and as you continued to do better without trying, I got more and more annoyed. That's why I acted so meanly toward you to begin with…you were just naturally good. I wasn't. I couldn't stand that fact that someone could be better at something than I was." Lily kept her eyes glued to the sheets she was fiddling with.

"Then you began to prank people. I thought I was getting mad because I thought it was immature but now, looking back on it, I realize that that wasn't it at all. I was mad because, not only did you not have to try in classes, other things, things beyond what we were learning, came naturally to you too. You could make people laugh, get them to notice you, when I only blended in with the crowd. You noticed how cold I would act toward you and we began to fight. And we've fought ever since. All because of my stupid, petty first year jealously."

"Lily, that's in that past now. Really, none of it really bothers-"

"Please, I have to keep talking or I'll never get this out." She said, looking up at him for just a moment before turning her attention away again, this time staring off toward the wall with a glazed look over her eyes.

James didn't try to speak again, waiting for Lily to continue with her talk.

"I let that jealously carry on though out the years. I held on to it, thinking that it was just me hating you. Not me liking you, wishing I could be like you, or, at least, be friends with you."

_Liking me?!_

"Then this year, we both became heads. And I was even more bitter. I was supposed to be a head, ME! I worked so hard for it, so hard. I did everything right, never broke any rules, hell, I've never really done anything fun. And you, you who broke every rule there is, who never studied for tests, who had so much fun, you got it too. I found out it was you and I thought this year would be horrible. I figured I would have to do all the head work, that I would have to patrol on my own, and plan everything, while you just used your status to help your friends and get out of trouble. But, no, you had to prove me wrong. You worked hard; you proved that you could be helpful. And then we kissed."

Lily paused. James stared at her, shocked with every word she was saying. He tried to catch her eye, to stop her from just staring vacantly away and actually look at him, so he could see if she truly meant what she was saying, but she avoided all eye contact.

"And then we kissed" Lily repeated herself, as though preparing for what she was going to say next "and it was the best kiss I ever had."

Lily heard a quick intake of breath from James and finally turned her head to look at him. His eyes were wide, shocked, and filled with the most wonderful happiness Lily had ever seen.

"Shivers went all though me, and I knew that that was what kissing was supposed to feel like. I knew, but I didn't want to admit it. So I denied everything. We fought again all the time. And then we just stopped talking, and you started flirting with everyone. Each time I saw you with another girl, my heart broke a little. My prediction for this year was coming true, this year was horrible, but not for the reasons I thought. And then you got attacked"

Lily's voice caught in her throat. James wanted to move to hug her, to comfort her in some way, but he knew that that would ruin the moment, and she would instantly close up.

"I panicked. I was by your side almost every day, I don't even know if you remember any of it. I told you everything and I was just so sad. Sirius had talked to me right after you were hurt, telling me what a jerk I had been, and I knew he was true. I knew I needed to apologize. And earlier, when I came running in to the room? I didn't come to talk about head stuff; I came to do this…"

And before she could think about what she was doing, before she could second guess herself, or worry that James didn't like her any more, she leaned into the raven haired boy, and kissed him.

The kiss was even better than the first. It was full of all the emotions that were swirling through Lily. Her fear for James' life, her love for the boy, and every pent up feeling she had had for him over the years. James pushed himself into a better sitting position on his bed, and pulled Lily in to his lap. They were kissing each other like neither of them had been kissed before, both felt shiver after shiver go down their spines. Pure pleasure tingled through them, and when they finally pulled apart, there was none of the awkwardness that had filled the air after their first kiss.

Neither spoke for a moment, they just stared into each other's eyes.

"James, I'm really, truly sorry, for all of the things that have happened between us in the past. I-I never really meant to hurt you, I-I swear. If I could I would take everything that happened back. I would-"

James cut her off.

"I wouldn't."

Lily looked shocked, and then worried. Did that mean he didn't agree with what was happening? Did that mean he didn't want her anymore? Then why had he kissed her back? Had he just done that to hurt her even more? She had said too much, made herself too vulnerable, she needed to get away.

She stood up to walk away, embarrassed by her story, tears rushing to her eyes. James quickly grabbed her hand, pulling her back to him.

"If none of that had happened, then this moment wouldn't be as good as it is. If none of that had happened, then we would have never realized how great we were for each other. We have fought almost every day for the past seven years and still, somehow, we have managed to overcome all of that and now we can finally be together!"

Lily's face split into a wide grin, and James pulled her closer to him, leaning in to kiss her smile. Just as their lips were about to brush together, Lily pulled back.

"Wait, so this means we're actually together together? As in…boyfriend girlfriend dating together?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm not so sure about that Mr. Potter. I have yet to be asked!" Lily joked to the boy sitting across from her.

"Oh I am so very sorry. AHEM" He faked clearing his throat "Missus Lily Evans, would you do me the honor, NAY the privilege, of being my one, my only, my truest most wonderfullest girlfriend?"

"Why, my dear Sir Potter" Lily didn't have to fake the soft blush that was creeping into her cheeks "I would be delighted to be just that!"

With those words, James pulled Lily to them and kissed her once more.

"Well, I feel as though I missed something important…" Alice's voice reached the two love birds from the door.

Quickly James and Lily pulled apart and turned to look at the entry way to the Hospital Wing, only to see Kathleen, Abbie, Sirius, Peter, Remus, and Alice standing there with shocked expressions on their faces. Except for Sirius, he looked oddly knowing, and not at all surprised with what he had just witnessed; only a bit disgusted.

"My god, I don't think I've ever seen two people suck each other's faces like that before!" Sirius stuck out his tongue in an exaggerated grossed out face.

The other six burst out laughing, causing Lily and James to blush and scooch away from each other.

"Well, it was bound to happen sometime!" Said Kathleen "We all saw it coming, but I think most of would have liked not to have seen the actual….coming."

"Oh shut it you guys!" Lily said, although she was smiling.

"All I have to say is WAIT TO GO PRONGS!" Remus surprised the group by his outburst, but none could say they disagreed.

Peter still seemed to be in shock over what happened, he still stood by the door while the rest of the group had moved to stand around James' bed. Quickly, realizing how out of place he seemed, he scurried over to his friend's bed.

"I'm impressed mate, and to think, you only just woke up today! I would say you move quickly, but seeing as you've been after her for seven years now, I'm afraid that statement doesn't really apply."

"Yeah, I agree" James said grinning.

"But really, mate, how did you get her to give in? I mean seven years and then suddenly you're all lovey dovey?" Remus looked skeptical.

"Well…"

"Wait, wait, wait! You all can have your guy talk, but we're going to have our girl talk. Come on Lily" Abbie said grabbing her friends arm "You have a lot of explaining to do, and we want to hear your side of the story when you're not around this kid" she said pointing her finger at James who looked disgruntled at being called a kid. Seeing this look on his face, Abbie corrected herself "this 'man'. He could influence you to tell the wrong thing."

Without another word, the three girls began dragging Lily toward the door, but not before she managed to sneak a kiss in with James.

"Don't let them interrogate you too much, I don't want to too tired to not be able to come see me later tonight!" James called after His Lily, for he could now call her that.

"How do you know I'll come see you at all?"

James just simply winked.

As soon as the girls walked out the doors, Remus, Peter, and Sirius turned to James.

"So?" Peter asked.

"Soo…what?"

"Oh no you don't Potter!" Sirius said "I worked my tail off (ha-ha … tail…he's a dog…sorry) to get her to realize the errors of her ways, the least you can do is give some details of how it all went down."

James sighed, as though having to tell the story about the girl he loved finally telling him she liked him back would be a hard one to get across. Then he grinned.

"Well…"

And he began his tale.

* * *

**A/N:** Good, bad, ugly? Reviews please. To all of those who have reviewed my story: OH MY GOSH THANK YOU SO MUCH! I now have over 100 reviews, that's so huge! You all rock! Imaginary hugs to each and every one of you!!


	15. Chapter 15

DISCLAIMER: So, it's been awhile. Sorry about that. I don't really have any excuses, as I said when I last wrote, except to say that life got in the way. Originally I was just going to leave the story as is but as I got to thinking I realized it wasn't a very conclusive end. So I've come back with this last chapter. One more to try to tie everything together. It should be rather interesting seeing as I haven't delved into the minds of these characters in years but I'm going to give it my best shot. So here goes, Lily and James' last hurrah, at least from me. Once more, I am not JK Rowling nor do I own any of the characters, spells, places, and names in this story. I only wish I had the brilliance to be able to say that I did.

It took Lily a few hours to finally finish telling her friends how she had come to the conclusion that she had loved James all along. Usually it wouldn't have taken so long for her to tell her tale but her friends continuously interrupted with squeals of delight, remarks of amazement, and many, many screams of "I told you so!" So, after Kathleen, Abbie, and Alice were contented with her story and were talking amongst themselves and sorting out who owed who money (they had taken bets earlier in the year on when the two were going to get together. Kathleen was the winner and Alice the clear loser as she had bet the two would be found making out on the train ride into Hogwarts at the beginning of the year), Lily quietly left the room. But not before she heard Alice yell "There goes our Lils, off to her loovvveee!" Lily laughed and continued to walk.

Once more, the walk back to the hospital wing proved to be rather therapeutic for Lily. She mulled over her thoughts and was glad to say that she was, for the first time in a while, truly, completely, happy. Upon peeking through the door of the wing to see if James was alone again (he was, clearly his telling of their story didn't take nearly as long as hers did. Maybe boys just didn't require as much detail as girls did) she walked in.

James' face lit up when he saw Lily walk through the door. It was true, everything had actually happened, and Lily was officially his. He opened his arms when she approached his bed and she slid in next to him, nuzzling her head in to his neck.

"I missed you" James muttered into the top of her head.

"And I you" Lily said back.

The two sat there cuddling for some time for both felt no need to speak and was content just to have the others company. After some time they both drifted off to sleep, still in each other's arms.

The year concluded in much of the same way as this. Lily brought James his work from the classes he was missing during his stay in the hospital wing and spent much of her time with him there. The two were often joined by their friends so the wing was filled with laughter, something that, oddly enough, Madam Pomfrey never really complained about. Apparently she too had been betting on James and Lilly's relationship with the other professors of the school and had come out of it with a rather large sum of money (really, who knew the professors took that much interest in the student's lives?) and because of that felt that she could be rather lenient with the two and their friends.

James left the hospital wing and the rest of their year flew by in a whirl of classes, head duties, dates, and good times with friends. Halloween was an exciting one in the dining halls as the prank the Marauders pulled was their best yet (with the help of the girls, how could it not be?) and many disgruntled Slytherins left the feast covered with pumpkin goop and with fake muggle witches noses stuck for days to their faces. Christmas and Easter holidays were spent at the Potter house which, although it lacked his parents, was starting once more to feel like home for James. The fact that all of his friends were there with him helped this matter greatly.

All of this was, of course, shadowed by gruesome notifications of deaths in their community as well as news of the terrible going ons outside of the protection of Hogwarts. The friends made sure to make the best of the time they had left of their safe haven in school.

As they all finished up their NEWTs all eight of them were shocked to find their time in the school coming to an end. The group could be found spending as much time as possible splashing in the lake and lying out on the grounds.

"You know, I honestly did not expect any of this to happen" Said James on one such day.

"How do you mean?" asked Lily, who was resting against James' chest.

James looked out into the water where his friends were splashing around. Frank racing after Alice, Abbie flirting with Remus (everyone was taking bets on when those two would be getting together. James and Lily felt nice to be able to be the betters, not the ones being betted on), and Sirius and Kathleen sitting with their toes in the water leaning towards each other. The two had been spending more time together as the year progressed and the two Heads had been on the lookout for them in broom closets on every patrol. Although they had yet to come across them, James and Lily knew that they were the next couple and everyone was so certain of it that no one even bothered to make bets. Peter was absent from the group, something that worried James as it had been happening more often than not lately. The boy often snuck (or tried to sneak, strictly speaking he wasn't the stealthiest guy in the world) out of the common room to meet up with some unknown someone. Sirius liked to suggest that he was meeting a girl but Peter never let on.

"I don't know" James responded "I just didn't expect this would be how our seven years would come to a close. I mean, I knew I would have Padfoot and Moony with me always but I always expected Wormtail would be here too," Lily didn't seem startled by the nicknames as the four had informed her of their other 'personalities' not long after the two had begun dating "and I never expected to have you and the other girls here too. Not that it's bad, it's actually better than anything I could have ever pictured. I can honestly say that I am genuinely happy and proud of the way that things have turned out."

Lily smiled and kissed her boyfriend gently on the lips. This was the side of James that she liked the most. The side that showed how loyal, how much of a good man he was, and proved to her that she had made the right decision. The two continued to laugh and watch their friends and, after a while, were joined by them.

"I can't believe we graduate and leave this place tomorrow" Sirius, who was sitting with his arm around Kathleen, said.

"Nor can I" lamented Remus "I have no idea what I'm doing with my future. I can't imagine anyone hiring me or where I can live or anything. I don't want our little bubble here to pop."

"You'll live with me silly. My uncle left me some money and I've decided to buy a flat, you're free to move in. You too Prongs and even you Frank if you want. We're going to be grown up men in the real world! All responsible and such. Sweet freedom, how she calls to me."

Kathleen rolled her eyes but snuggled in closer to Sirius.

"We're getting a flat too." She told the group in general "Lils, Alice, Abbie, and I. We've been talking about it for a while now and have found a place we all actually like. We're taking a week after graduation to live with our families and then we're going to move in."

Sirius grinned at this, as did the others. As they sat there on the eve of the rest of their lives they couldn't help to think about all the good times they had and the good times they would have. Their entire lives where ahead of them and they could do anything they wanted. Screw the war, screw Voldemort, they were going to live their lives and enjoy them while they could.

The next day the friends sat for their last time in the great hall. They were in full robes, sitting all in a row looking up at Dumbledore as he spoke about their futures, the great potential they all had, and that "what is right isn't necessarily what is easy."

Dumbledore looked down from his seat at the students he had watched for seven years. As his eyes fell on the group he couldn't help but smile to himself. They had made him proud and he knew they would continue to do so. They would face so many challenges in the near future and he hoped that they would face them well. He could no longer protect them within these walls but he planned to do all he could to make sure they made it out of this war alive. Within the pockets of his robes he had 9 scrolls, all containing the same invitation to join him and his elite group called The Order of the Phoenix to help fight against Voldemort. He would give the scrolls to them in the morning, for now he would let them enjoy their final moments in what had been their home for seven years.

After Dumbledore was done speaking the friends left the great hall to the go to the grounds together. Surrounded by the rest of their class they couldn't help but feel closeness with them all. No matter what drama had gone on, no matter who had fought with who they all knew that they had been though something great together and would thus have that to connect them for the rest of their lives.

James, Lily, Sirius, Kathleen, Remus, Abbie, Frank, Alice, and Peter all stood together on the lawn in front of Hogwarts looking at it.

"I'm impressed that you didn't try to pull anything in there" Frank remarked to the Marauders.

"Well we felt that it was only right to let us seventh years have our moment, you know? We didn't want to interrupt the sanctity of the moment" Sirius said knowingly.

James grinned "Yeah, they deserved a _moment_ of peace."

Remus and Peter both grinned with him, turning around as one.

"Ohh no" groaned Lily as the first boom was head above her head.

Fireworks exploded above all the seventh years. The designs were unlike any they had seen before. The colors formed figures of all the houses, of Hogwarts, Lily's face was even seen in them. All around them students laughed and pointed. No one had to ask who had done it because everyone knew.

Below the fireworks James turned to face Lily, his smile turning for serious.

"Lily, these past few months have been more amazing than anything I could have ever imagined. I cannot express to you how much I love you and how much you mean to me. If this war has taught me anything it is to not take what you have for granted. Lily Evans, I love you. I know this may seem fast but I don't want to take the risk of losing you."

Then, getting down on one knee James spoke the words Lily had only dreamed about: "Lily Evans, will you marry me?"

Surrounded by all her friends, in the place she had called home for so many years, under the lights of a brilliant firework display, Lily Evans said yes to James Potter.

A/N: Yes, it's rather short and yes, it's rather cheesy but I thought it was a fitting way to end this. I want to thank all the people who reviewed over the years and, if anyone reads this, I want to thank you all for sticking with me. I know it too much longer than it should have but I finished it eventually. Farewell all, it's been great. With Love, JCMML.


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